A  SKETCH 


OF  THE 


INTERNAL  CONDITION 


OF  THE 


UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 


AND  OF  THEIR 


political  relations  toftij  Surojie. 


6  5  2  •      9 


LPrkft 

A  SKETCH 


OF    THB 


XWTEBUAL  CONDITION 


OF  THE 


CTE'SEIE  ERASES  ©IF  AffiSSEQ^i 


AND    OF    THEIR 


POLITICAL  RELATIONS  WITH  EUROPE 


B7  A  RUSSIAN. 


tSMfSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH. 
BY  AN  AMERICAN. 

WITH  NOTES. 


Baltimore: 

PUBLISHED  BY  E.  J.  COALE 

B.  EDF.S,  1'RINTER 
1826. 


District  of  Maryland — to  wit: 


BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  third  day  of  August,  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  the  Inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States  of  America,  Edward  J.  Coalc,  of  the  said  District,  hath  deposited 
in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  he  claims  as  proprietor,  in  the  words  follow 
nig,  to  wit: 

"A  Sketch  of  the  Internal  Condition  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  of  their  Political  Re- 
lations with  Europe.  By  A  Russian.  Translated  from  the  French,  by  an  American;  with  notes." 

In  conformity  with  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled;  "An  Act  for  the  en- 
couragement of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts  and  books,  to  authors  and 
proprietors  of  such  copies  during  tlie  times  therein  mentioned;'  and  also  to  the  Act,  enti- 
tled, '-An  Act  Supplementary  to  the  Act,entitled.'An  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by 
securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  soch  copies, 
dining  the  times  therein  mentioned,'  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  design 
ing,  engraving,  and  etohine,  historical,  and  other  prints." 

"       B  8'  &'  PHILIP  MOORE, 

Clerk  of  the  District  of  Maryland. 


£ 


PUBLISHER'S  FRErACE. 


A   copy  of  the   following  volume  was  re- 
ceived, by  the  publisher,  directly  from  the  au- 
thor.  It  was  immediately  translated  from  the 
French,  in  which  it  was  originally  written,  that 
it  might  be  offered  without  delay  to  the  Ameri- 
can public.     The  rapidity  with  which  this  was 
executed,  will  be  an  apology  for  any  inaccura- 
cies that  may  be  discovered.     The  notes  arc 
meant  for  a  further  illustration  of  the  distinguish- 
es?   ed  author's  opinions,  and  an  explanation  of  such 
as  may,  from  the  change  of  circumstances,  seem 
£    to  be  erroneous.     His  mistakes  are  so  few  and 
>    slight,  that  it  would  be  scarcely  necessary  to  no- 
tice- them,  if  we  did  not  suppose,  from  the  dis- 
J.  tinguished  author's  impartiality  and  information, 
^   that  such  corrections  would  give  him  pleasure. 
'.   Many  alterations,  both  in  our  condition  and  poli- 
V^  cy,  have  ensued  since  the  work  was  written. 


4i-J±568 


publisher's  preface. 


which  we  find  from  the  date  of  the  author's  pre- 
face (accidentally  omitted  in  the  translation,)  to 
have  been  at  Washington,  in  February,  1823. 
The  acquaintance  with  our  laws,  manners  and 
customs,  which  he  displays  in  the  following 
sketch,  and  the  equal  justice  with  which  he 
notes  our  merits  and  our  faults,  will  do  him  honor 
with  the  liberal  and  honest.  In  his  praise  he  is 
never  indiscriminate,  in  his  censure  never  harsh 
or  fretful:  and  his  profound  acquaintance  with 
our  country,  and  due  appreciation  of  our  institu- 
tions, must  surprise  us  in  a  man,  born  and  bred 
under  others  so  entirely  dissimilar. 


r1 


\ 


CONTENTS. 

First  Section. 
General  Considerations.  "        "        T        "        "      PaSe  5 

Second  Section. 

Chap.  1.  Extent  of  Territory,          ....  19 

Chap.  2.   Population, 22 

Chap.  3.  The  American  Confederation,         -  36 

Chap.  4.  The  Federal  Government,            ...  43 

Chap.  5.  The  Army, 52 

Chap.  6.  The  Navy, 55 

Chap.  7.  Finances, 60 

Chap.  8.  The  Political  Relations  of  the  United  States  with 

Europe. 69 

Third  Section. 

Chap.  1.  Administration  of  Justice,          ...  73 

Chap.  2.  Penitentiaries.                                                    *  93 

Fourth  Section. 

State  of  Society, 103 

Appendix,  containing  notes.      .....  139 


•  4 
11 


Comparing  then  my  first  impressions  with  the 
result  of  my  subsequent  observations,  I  found 
but  little  difficulty  in  discovering  the  impcrfect- 
ness  of  my  former  labour;  for  during  the  inter- 
val of  seven  years  which  had  elapsed  between 
my  two  visits  to  the  United  States,  the  changes, 
or  to  speak  more  accurately,  the  improvements 
in  all  the  departments  of  domestic  economy, 
surpassed  the  most  sanguine  calculations  of  po- 
litical prophecy.  Wretched  villages,  which  I 
had  left  in  the  midst  of  impenetrable  forests, 
had  assumed  the  appearance  of  flourishing  towns. 
Cultivated  fields  had  taken  the  place  of  heaths, 
wrhich  not  long  before  seemed  impassible,  and 
over  ground,  which  could  scarcely  be  traversed 
in  country  wagons,  mail  stages  were  to  be  seen 
whirling  along  with  the  greatest  rapidity.  Such 
changes  are  particularly  remarkable  in  the 
western  part  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

A  metamorphosis  so  sudden  and  striking,  con- 
vinced me  of  the  uselessness  of  swelling  out  this 
work  with  details  purely  statistical:  for  as  long 
as  the  United  States  continues  to  offer  so  great  a 
disproportion  between  the  number  of  its  inha- 
bitants and  the  extent  of  its  territorv:  and  the 


Hi 


astonishing  fertility  of  the  soil  in  many  sections 
of  the  country,  to  repay  liberally  the  labour  of 
the  cultivator:  it  is  certain  that  its  statistics 
will  always  in  their  details,  he  liable  to  impor- 
tant alterations.  It  will  therefore  be  difficult  for 
an  exact  and  scrupulous  observer  to  give  a  satis- 
factory view  of  a  country,  subject  at  every  mo- 
ment to  changes  more  or  less  obvious. 

I  think  it  therefore  proper  to  apprise  my  read- 
ers, if  this  work  should  be  fortunate  enough  to 
have  them,  that  they  will  not  find  in  it,  statistical 
details  sufficiently  copious  to  afford  a  complete 
view  of  the  actual  physical  resources  of  the 
United  States.  They  will  likewise,  vainly  seek 
for  private  anecdotes  in  which  loungers  so  much 
delight. 
In  this  viewr  of  the  political  and  social  condition 
of  the  United  States,  the  reader  will  find  noth- 
ing but  facts,  which,  being  permanent  in  them- 
selves, will,  for  a  long  time  to  come,  appear  still 
the  same  to  the  most  superficial  observer. 


A  SKETCH 


OF  THE 


SHTMBHAIL  ©©HMTD1©!! 


OF  THE 


UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 

FIRST  SECTION. 
GENEH.IL  CONSIDERATIONS. 

From  the  irrevocable  recognition  of  the  polit 
ical  independence  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  of  1783,  until  to- 
wards the  present  time,  the  world  has  seen  them 
prosper  with  a  rapidity  without  example  in  the 
history  of  the  most  civilized  nations. 

Natural  and  immutable  causes,  joined  to  others 
entirely  accidental  and  transient,  have  concurred 
in  producing  the  extraordinary  developement  of 
industry,  in  a  country  so  recently  emancipated, 
and  so  far  from  the  great  focus  of  civilization. 


... 

(    t 


6 

Among  the  permanent  causes,  we  must  assign 
the  first  rank  to  the  geographical  situation  of  the 
United  States,  which  gives  them  all  the  advanta- 
ges of  an  insular  position,  in  regard  to  external 
security,  without  excluding  those  which  result 
from  the  possession  of  a  territory  immense  in  ex- 
tent and  susceptihle  of  every  species  of  culture. 
To  he  perfectly  secure  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment 
of  this  vast  and  beautiful  domain,  the  North 
Americans  never  had  nor  have  they  now  any 
other  but  tribes  of  Indian  hunters  to  contend 
with,  which  daily  and  visibly  diminish  by  the 
necessary  effects  of  their  precarious  and  wander- 
ing life.    The  great  extent  of  fertile  lands,  and 
the  abundance  of  the  means  of  subsistence  in 
the  United  States  are  the  more  favourable  to 
the    population,    as    it  is  naturally   active,  la- 
borious and  enterprising.     Thus  have  we  seen 
it  double  itself  in  the  space  of  twenty  years  suc- 
ceeding the  war  of  their  Independence.     This 
single  fact  in  their  statistical  annals,  has  not  since 
been  repeated. 

To  this  principal  cause  of  the  so  rapidly  in- 
creasing prosperity  of  the  United  States,  we 
should  undoubtedly  add  the  salutary  influence 


of  a  government  as  imperceptible  in  its  progress 
as  in  its  operations.  Here,  locality  has  again 
been  favourable  to  that  country.  The  ab- 
sence of  all  immediate  neighbourhood  that  could 
be  dreaded,  enables  them  to  afford  to  their  re- 
publican institutions  all  the  latitude  which  the 
opinions  and  prevailing  habits  of  the  people 
could  claim.  Wisely  judging  that  the  existence 
of  a  standing  army  would  badly  accord  with  the 
genius  of  a  popular  government,  they  have  re- 
duced it  to  a  handful  of  men,  so  that  they  have 
no  cause  to  apprehend  any  serious  inconven- 
ience to  the  safety  or  tranquillity  of  the  Ameri- 
can Confederation. 

Their  civil  and  political  laws  have  been  con- 
ceived in  a  spirit  eminently  calculated  to  guard 
individual  liberty.  Such  must  be  the  case  in  a 
country,  in  which,  since  its  first  colonization,  the 
hatred  of  political  or  religious  persecution  has 
been  transmitted  from  age  to  age  as  a  revered 
tradition. 

Jt  is  well  known  that  the  first  colonists  who 
came  to  the  United  States,  were  men  who  had 
abandoned  their  own  country  to  seek  refuge 
from  the  civil  troubles  with  which  England  was 


8 

agitated  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Many  of  them  fled  from  the  reli- 
gious persecution,  to  which  the  English  protes 
tants  were  exposed  during  the  reign  of  the  Steu- 
arts.  These  colonists  were  the  first  legislators 
of  the  country.  It  is  therefore  natural  that  all 
their  ideas,  all  their  solicitude  should  be  directed 
to  the  adoption  of  the  most  effectual  measures 
against  arbitrary  and  religious  intolerance.  In 
fact,  among  the  first  institutions  and  municipal 
laws  which  governed  the  English  Colonists  of 
North  America  until  their  emancipation,  we 
find  the  most  protecting  spirit  of  liberty  and 
the  most  unlimited  freedom  of  conscience. 
The  war  of  Independence,  commonly  called  in 
Europe  the  American  War,  effected  but  little 
change  in  these  matters,  because  the  sole  object 
of  that  war  was  political  Independence*  and  not 

*The  principal,  and  indeed  the  only  cause  of  the  differen- 
ces between  England  and  her  colonies  of  North  America,  was 
the  right  asserted  by  the  British  Parliament  and  Government 
to  tax  the  colonies  without  the  consent  of  their  local  Legisla- 
tures. It  is  only  necessary  to  read  the  petitions  which  the  col- 
onists addressed  to  the  King  of  England  on  that  subject,  and 
the  declaration  of  their  Independence  promulgated  on  the  4th. 
of  July  1776,  to  be  convinced  that  civil  liberty  had  no  agency 
in  causing  that  celebrated  war,  and  that  political  rights  alone 
were  the  ground  of  hostilities.  This  assertion  is  confirmed  by 
Dr.  Franklin  in  his  memoirs. 


9 

civil  liberty,  which  the  Anglo-Americans  had  en- 
joyed in  an  equal  degree  with  their  English 
brethren. 

So  true  is  this,  that  when  the  rupture  took 
place  between  the  mother  country  and  the  col- 
onies, some  of  the  thirteen  confederated  states 
retained  their  ancient  constitutions  granted  by 
the  British  Government;  and  what  is  still  more 
remarkable,  these  very  states  were  considered 
more  democratical  than  the  rest.  It  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  offer  as  an  example  the  state  of  Connec- 
ticut, which,  until  the  year  1 8 1 S,  had  not  chang- 
ed its  original  constitution  under  which  polit- 
ical power  was  delegated  but  for  six  months. 

The  state  of  Rhode  Island  to  this  very  mo- 
ment is  governed  by  a  constitution  granted  by 
the  Kings  of  England.     (tfpp-  Note  A.) 

Yet  however  powerful  may  be  the  action  of 
these  causes  which  we  have  mentioned,  they 
are  not  adequate  to  the  explanation  of  the  devel- 
opement  of  the  prodigious  natural  resources  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  Accidental  caus- 
es have  perhaps  contributed  more  efficiently 
than  the  former.  At  the  epoch  of  the  French 
Revolution,  the  United  States  had  jusl  emerged 


o 


10 

ft'oin  numberless  difficulties,  against  which  the\ 
had  struggled  in  consequence  of  the  deranged 
condition  of  their  finances  which  the  sacrifices 
incident  to  their  war  of  Independence  had  render- 
ed necessary;  and  hy  the  inherent  defects  of  a 
confederated  government,  badly  defined  in  its 
powers,  badly  understood,  and  therefore  badly 
administered. 

The  Federal  Constitution  of  17S8,  which  since 
that  period  has  governed,  and  still  continues  to 
govern  the  American  confederation,  without 
prejudice  to  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  reserved  to 
themselves  respectively  by  the  several  states  com- 
posing the  Union,  being  better  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  the  country,  looked  to  the  most  important 
objects  and  marked  out  for  the  general  govern- 
ment, a  safer  course  and  a  more  regular  action. 
Under  the  aegis  of  this  government  as  defective 
as  it  would  appear  at  the  first  glance,  the  United 
States  have  presented  themselves  to  the  nations 
of  Europe  to  claim  their  part  in  the  great  com  - 
merce  of  the  world  and  the  navigation  of  its  seas. 
This  participation  would  have  been  inconsidera 
ble,  taking  into  consideration  the  spareness  of  the 
population,  the  excessive  dearness  of  every  spe- 


11 

ciesof  workmanship,  without  the  long  and  bloody 
wars,  of  which  the  French  Revolution  was  either 
the  cause  or  (he  pretext.  Seeing  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  eruptions  of  this  political  volcano,  the 
North  Americans  profited  b}^  the  misfortunes  of 
Europe:  and  having  by  a  series  of  favourable  cir- 
cumstances, become  the  onl}-  neutral  nation  of  the 
civilized  world,  they  soon  appropriated  to  them- 
selves the  universal  coasting  trade,  concurrently 
with  the  English,  who  ruled  the  seas,  without, 
being  able  nevertheless  to  subdue  the  coasts,  from 
which  they  were  constantly  repulsed.  Whether 
the  neutral  commerce  or  the  coasting  trade  prov- 
ed most  advantageous  to  the  Americans,  or  to 
the  other  nations  with  whom  it  was  carried  on, 
certain  it  is  that  the  profits  derived  from  it  by 
the  former  were  so  enormous,  that  after  having 
paid  for  all  the  consumptions  of  the  United 
States,  in  foreign  merchandise,  there  still  re- 
mained enough  to  gratify  the  expensive  taste  of 
arising  Inxuriousness  and  the  no  less  costly  re- 
finements of  fashionable  life. 

The  violent  measures  against  neutral  naviga- 
tion adopted  at  different  periods,  by  the  govern- 
ments of  France  and  England,  diminished  some- 


what  the  gains  of  the  Americans  by  multiply- 
ing the  risks:  but  they  could  not  suppress  their 
spirit  of  enterprise  and  speculation,  because  in 
the  event  of  success,  their  profits  amply  compen- 
sated them  for  the  hazard  they  were  obliged  to 
encounter. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  war  which  took  place 
in  Spain,  opened  to  the  Americans  a  certain  and 
lucrative  market.  During  five  or  six  years  fol- 
lowing the  commencement  of  the  year  1809, 
the  English,  Spanish  and  Portuguese  armies 
were  supplied  with  provisions  exported  from 
the  United  States.  The  large  profits  they  ob- 
tained at  Lisbon  and  Cadiz,  by  the  sale  of  Amerr 
ican  flour,  raised  the  price  of  that  article  to  ten 
and  eleven  dollars  per  barrel  in  all  the  maritime 
cities  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Pitkin,  who 
for  a  longtime  was  a  representative  from  Connec- 
ticut in  the  American  Congress,  and  whose  statis- 
tics of  the  United  States  are  held  in  high  es- 
teem for  their  accuracy,  makes  the  American 
flour  exported  to  Spain  and  Portugal  during  the 


13 


years  1S12  and  1813  amount  to  the  quantities 
stated  below.* 

The  influence  of  such  high  prices,  kept  up  by 
circumstances  during  several  years,  on  all  branch- 
es of  agriculture,  or  rather  on  the  general  in- 
dustry of  the  United  States,  may  be  easily  con- 
ceived. Some  statistical  facte,  drawn  from  the 
mostauthentic  sources, hereto  annexed,  will  serve 
to  confirm  our  assertions. 


In  1791 
Number  of  Inhabitants,      I  3,921,32G 
Value  of  Exports  in  dollars  19,012,041 


Tonnage — tons, 
Revenue  in  dollars, 
Expenditure    do  - 
Public  Debt    do  - 


502,146 
4,771,342 
3,797,436 
-.75,169,974 


In  1801       In  1811 

5,3J  9,762    7,239,903 

94,115,925  61,316,833 

1,033,218     1,232,502 


12,945,455 
12,273,376 
82,000,167 


14,422,634 
13,592,604 
47,855,070 


This  table  is  extracted  from  a  work  published 
in  1818,  in  Philadelphia,  under  the  title  of, 
Statistical  Annals  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, founded  on  official  documents^  commencing 


*  To  Spain: 


Flour  in  barrels. 
8,865.     -     -     -     381,726. 
74,409.     -     -     -     431,101. 

To  Portugal. 

-  33,591.     -     -     557,218. 

-  214,126.     -     -     542,399. 

Tins*-  r  xportations  for  the  year  1813  alone  were  worth  on  lh( 
spot.  1 !  ,213,  \\1  dollars,  and  ought  to  have  produced  when  sold 
at  Market  at  least  15,000,000  dollars, — (76,000,000  roubles  in 
Bank  .Notes.) 


1812. 
[819 

1812. 
L81S. 


11 

on  the  4th  of  March ■,  17S9,  and  ending  on  the 
SlOlh  of  April,  1818.  liy  Ad  a  m  Seybert,  M. 
D.    (Page  10.)     (Jlpp.  Note  B.) 

This  prosperous  stale  of  tilings  did  not  begin  to 
alter  until  the  anti-commercial  decrees  of  Napo- 
leon, and  the  scarcely  less  unjust  and  iniquitous 
British  orders  in  Council  were  executed  in  all 
their  force,  not  only  on  the  high  seas,  hut  even 
on  the  coasts  of  the  United  States;  and,  if  we 
may  use  the  expression,  within  the  very  glare  of 
the  American  light-houses.    Nevertheless  these 

■ 

inconveniences  were  diminished  by  means  of 
licenses,  which  the  French  government  then 
puhlickly  sold,  and  which  were  obtained  as  easily 
in  England,  notwithstanding  that  government 
managed  the  affair  with  more  apparent  modesty 
and  srood  faith. 

The  war  declared  by  the  American  govern- 
ment against  England  in  1812,  in  opposition  to 
its  own  judgment,  and  solely  to  gratify  the  clam- 
orous demands  of  a  powerful  party  actuated  by 
personal  considerations,  a  war  awkwardly  con- 
ducted by  both  parties,  but  which  terminated  so 
fortunately  for  the  United  States,  was  the  first 
retrogressive  step  in  their  career  of  prosperity. 


15 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  disastrous  conse- 
quences which  the  prolongation  of  it  another 
year,  would  have  entailed  on  the  finances,  agri- 
culture, commerce  and  navigation  of  the  United 
States. 

The  miraculous  peace  of  Ghent,  as  the  Amer- 
icans themselves  call  it,  re-produced  an  extraor- 
dinary, although  transient  activity  in  the  gene- 
ral industry  of  the  country,  or  rather  revived 
the  extravagant,  spirit  of  speculation  among  the 
inhabitants.  Rut  the  pacification  of  Europe  en- 
tirely reversed  the  former  order  of  things,  whose 
operation  was  so  favourable  to  ihc  Americans. 
The  changes  which  took  place  in  Europe  para- 
lized  all  the  efforts  they  made  after  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  to  repossess  them- 
selves  of  the  advantages  they  had  so  long  enjoy- 
ed in  commerce  and  navigation. 

When  the  gnat  avenues  to  these  two  sources 
of  national  wealth  were  opened  to  all  the  nations 
of  Europe,  and  when  they  hastened  successively 
to  reclaim  their  share,  that  of  the  Americans  di- 
minished as  rapidly  as  il  had  increased.  Of  the 
iruili  of  this  assertion,  facts  extracted  from  oili- 


lb 

cial  documents  published  by  the  order  of  Con- 
gress in  1821,  will  offer  irrefragable  proof.* 

All  the  maritime  cities  of  the  United  States 
were  glutted  with  European  merchandise, 
whilst  a  portion  of  the  products  of  the  soil,  such 
as  corn  and  flour,  for  want  of  a  market  in  Eu- 
rope, rotted  on  their  hands.  In  consequence  of 
the  pacification  this  branch  of  commerce  devolv- 
ed on  Russia,  From  her  ports  on  the  Black  Sea, 
Europe  was  supplied  with  provisions  during  the 
calamitous  years  of  1816,  and  1817;  and  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  Russia  will,  for  a  long 
time,  continue  to  furnish  the  south  of  Europe 
with  grain  at  least,  for  she  can  partially  do  so, 
at  a  much  cheaper  rate  than  the  United  States. 

The  general  distress  which  prevailed  in  the 
United  States  as  well  as  in  Europe,  brought 
about  by  the  too  rapid  transition  from  a  long 


*The  annual  products  of  the  United  States  were  in 

1815 36,308,022  dollars,  51  cents. 

1816 27,484,100  dollars,  36  cents. 

1817 17,524,775  dollars,  15  cents. 

1818 21,828,451  dollars,  48  cents. 

1819 19,116,702  dollars. 

1820 15,005,320  dollars. 

(Report  of  the  Committee  of  ways  and  means,  upon  the 
subject  of  the  Revenue  February  1821.) 


17 

state  of  war  to  that  of  universal  peace,  was  height- 
ened by  the  multiplication  of  Banks  and  the 
shameful  abuses  of  which  some  were  guilty  in 
the  employment  of  their  funds. 

The  disappearance  of  specie,  the  invariable 
consequence  of  too  great  an  emission  of  paper 
money,  the  general  distrust,  the  simultaneous 
stagnation  in  all  branches  of  industry,  the  de- 
preciation of  every  species  of  property,  the  re- 
duction of  salaries,  were  all  the  bitter  fruits  of 
unsuccessful  and  inordinate  speculation,by  which 
i  i  was  attempted  to  replace  commerce  in  its  for- 
mer prosperous  condition.  Having  made  enor- 
mous fortunes  during  the  space  of  about  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century,  either  by  the  coasting  trade  or 
by  other  commercial  enterprizes,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  United  States  persuaded  themselves  that 
this  state  of  things  would  last  for  ever;  and  when 
the  pacification  of  Europe  restored  commerce 
to  its  natural  channels,  the  thirst  after  gain  and 
the  want  of  luxury  had  made  too  great  progress, 
not  to  cloud  the  councils  of  prudence  in  the 
minds  of  the  merchants. 

Such  is,  even  at  this  moment,  the  internal  con- 
dition of  thai  country.    A  genera]  depression  is 


18 

felt  throughout  the  populous  cities  on  the  shores 
of  the  atlantic,  as  well  as  in  the  rising  towns  on 
the  hanks  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  Every 
where  is  heard  the  complaint  of  the  hardness  of 
the  times,  the  depreciation  of  property,  and  the 
low  price  of  the  produce  of  the  soil. 

But  this  state  of  suffering  and  depression  can- 
not he  otherwise  than  temporary,  since  all  the 
natural  means  of  prosperity  which  result  from 
local  circumstances,  such  as  the  extent  of  territo- 
ry, the  richness  and  variety  of  its  productions,  the 
advantages  of  geographical  position,  possessed 
hy  the  United  States  in  an  eminent  degree,  re- 
main untouched.  When  the  effects  of  a  sudden 
transition  from  war  to  peace  shall  have  ceased  to 
operate  throughout  all  the  countries  of  the  civil- 
ized world;  when  commerce  and  general  indus- 
try shall  have  found  their  natural  level;  the  part 
to  he  acted  hy  the  United  States  will  be  suffi- 
ciently important  to  assure  them  a  distinguished 
rank  among  commercial  nations,  and  to  afford 
every  requisite  encouragement  to  her  domestic 
agriculture. 

Geographical  and  statistical  details  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  will  complete  the  sketch  which  we 
have  marked  out  for  ourselves  in  this  work. 


SECOND  SECTION. 

-^&/^~ 

CHAP.  I. 

EXTENT  OF  TERRITORY. 

According  to  the  maps  made  by  American 
geographers  since  the  treaty  of  Washington  of 
the  22d  February,  1819,  with  Spain,*  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  United  States,  lies  between  25°  50' 
and  49°  37"  north  latitude,  and  10°  east,  and  48* 
20'  west  longitude,  by  the  meridian  of  Wash- 
ington. 

The  greatest  extent  of  territory  from  north  to 
south-east,  is  1650  English  miles;  the  greatest 
breadth  from  east  to  west,  2,700.  Its  super- 
ficies is  computed  to  contain  2,379,350  square 
miles,  or  1,522,784,000  acres. 

Anterior  to  the  treaty  of  Washington  of  1 809, 
with  Spain,  the  superficies  of  the  territory  of 


#This  treaty,  although  shortly  after  ratified  by  the  Senate  and 
President  of  the  United  States,  was  not  immediately  approved 
l>v  the  Court  of  Madrid.  Nevertheless,  the  Americans  flatter 
themselves  that  it  will  ultimately  be  concluded;  and  it  was 
under  this  belief  and  corresponding  to  its  provisions,  that  the 
last  edition  of  the  general  map  of  the  United  States  by  Melish, 
published  in  1"if),  was  drawn. 


20 

the  United  States,  as  stated  by  Blodget,  was 
1,280,000,000  acres;  but  the  authority  of  this 
author  has  always  been  doubted,  and  his  cal- 
culations are  evidently  much  exaggerated.  By 
Mr.  Blodget's  estimate,  the  quantity  of  cultivat- 
ed lands  in  1809,  did  not  amount  to  more  than 
40,000,000  acres. 

In  1783,  the  period  of  the  recognition  of  the 
Independence  of  the  United  States,  their  terri- 
tory, according  to  Mr.  Hutchins,  formerly  geo- 
graphical engineer  to  the  Government,  is  repre- 
sented to  have  contained  but  640,000,000  acres, 
on  a  length  of  about  1250  English  miles,  and 
a  breadth  of  1040.  By  this  same  authority, 
51,000,000  acres  were  covered  by  rivers,  lakes, 
streams,  &c. 

The  United  States  have  therefore  acquired 
triple  the  extent  of  their  original  territory,  since 
their  political  Independence. 

A  considerable  portion  of  these  acquisition* 
was  derived  from  the  purchase  of  Louisiana, 
which  the  French  Government,  in  consideration 
of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  transferred  to  them. 
The  limits  of  this  province  not  having  been  as- 
certained at  the  date  of  the  sale,  the  American 


21 

Government  took  advantage  of  the  uncertainty, 
and  have  since  pushed  their  boundaries  west- 
ward as  far  as  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Previous  to 
the  session  of  the  Floridas,  on  the  22d  Febru- 
ary, 1819,  their  pretensions  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  river,  rested  alone  on  that  foundation. 

It  may  also  be  asserted  that  a  vast  quantity  of 
land  has  been  extorted  from  the  Indians,  either 
by  force  or  under  the  semblance  of  formal  con- 
tracts. This  unfortunate  race,  the  legitimate 
owners  of  the  whole  soil,  finding  themselves 
closer  and  closer  hemmed  in  by  the  Americans, 
either  buried  themselves  in  the  depth  of  their 
forests,  abandoning  their  possessions  without  an 
equivalent,  or  ceded  them  for  a  small  fixed  com- 
pensation, which  frequently  consisted  merely  of 
woollen  clothing,  fire  arms,  brandy,  corn  and 
some  trifling  pecuniary  annuity. 

Throughout  the  whole  topography  of  the 
United  States,  you  are  struck  by  the  breadth 
and  depth  of  the  rivers  even  when  they  are  of 
no  considerable  length;  hence  the  small  eleva- 
tion of  the  mountains,  the  loftiest  of  which  is 
not  higher  than  one  thousand  to  twelve  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 


22 


CHAP.  II. 

POPULATION 

In  this  immense  territory  there  are  but  from 
nine  to  ten  millions  of  inhabitants,  exclusive  of 
the  tribes  of  Indian  hunters,  whose  number 
could  never  be  computed  with  any  degree  of  ex- 
actness. We  only  know  that  their  tribes  form 
an  inconsiderable  part  of  the  whole  population 
of  the  United  States;  and  that  they  rapidly  di- 
minish by  the  natural  effects  of  their  course  of 
life.*     According  to  the  census  of  1810,  the 


*The  fourth  census  begun  in  1 820,  but  which  was  not  com- 
pleted until  towards  the  end  of  the  year  1821,  states  the  en- 
tire population  of  the  United  States  at  9,637,999  persons  of 
different  ages  and  complexions,  distributed  in  the  following 
proportions: 


States. 

Inhabitants 

Maine 

298,335 

New-Hampshire 

-     244,161 

Massachusetts 

523,287 

Rhode-Island 

-       83,059 

Connecticut 

275,248 

Vermont 

-     235,764 

New-York 

1,372,812 

New-Jersey    - 

-     277,575 

Pennsylvania 

-       1,049,451 

Delaware 

72  729 

23 


total  population  of  the  United  States,  was  calcu- 
lated to  be  7,239,903.  We  should  not  exagge- 
rate in  saying  that,  independently  of  the  Indians, 
it  amounts  at  this  moment  to  9,500,000  persons. 


Maryland     - 

. 

407,350 

Virginia 

- 

-  1,665,366 

North  Carolina 

- 

638,829 

South  Carolina 

- 

-     502,741 

Georgia 

- 

340,980 

Alabama 

- 

-     127,901 

Mississippi 

- 

75,448  ■ 

Louisiana 

- 

-     153,407 

Tennessee 

- 

422,613 

Kentucky     - 

- 

564,307 

Ohio 

- 

-     510,431 

Indiana 

- 

147,178 

Illinois     - 

- 

-       55,211 

Missouri 

- 

66,586 

Michigan  Territory  - 

8,896 

Arkansaw     - 

- 

14,246 

District  of  Columbia 

-       33,039 

Grand  Total.     -  9,637,999 

Of  this  total  number,  blacks,  actual  or  emancipated  slaves, 
together  with  freeborn  persons  of  colour,  amount  to  two  mil- 
iums of  persons. 

In  1822,  Slavery  was  .sanctioned  by  the  following  states. 
Maryland, 
Virginia, 
\<>rth  Carolina, 
Smith  Carolina, 
Georgia, 
Alabama, 
M         ippi 


!24 

Of  all  the  statistics  of  the  United  States  the 
enumeration  of  its  inhabitants  affords  to  the  ob- 
server the  most  exact  and  at  the  same  time  the 
most  curkfiis  subject  of  enquiry. 

Since  the  achievement  of  the  American  In- 
dependence, the  government  has  taken  particu- 
lar pains  to  obtain  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
population  of  the  country.  The  practice  of  tak- 
ing a  census,  first  established  in  1 800,  is  repeat- 
ed every  1 0  years,  and  the  result  of  each  esti- 
mate, with  all  the  details  necessary  to  shed  light 
upon  this  important  department  of  American 
statistics,  published  by  the  order  of  Congress. 

These  official  publications  deserve  the  more 
confidence,  as  the  central  government  of  the 
United  States  have  neither  the  means  nor  any 

Louisiana, 

Tennessee, 

Kentucky, 

Missouri, 

The  Floridas, 

Territory  of  Arkansaw, 

The  District  of  Columbia. 
It  is  to  be  still  found  in  the  State  of  Delaware,  New  Jersey, 
and  even  in  Pennsylvania  and  New-York;  but  the  laws  of  tin; 
latter  States  have  fixed  a  period  for  its  entire  abolition. 

In  all  the  other  States  of  the  Union,  slavery  is  prohibited  by 
the  laws. 


25 

interest  in  withholding  from  the  public,  a  full 
knowledge  of  the  particulars  of  their  internal 

administration. 

* 

On  their  part,  the  citizens  having  no  standing 
army  to  support,  and  scarcely  any  direct  taxes  to 
pay,  have  likewise  no  motive  to  induce  them  to 
elude  the  enquiries  of  public  officers  charged 
with  the  duty  of  enumerating  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  is  compos- 
ed of  three  distinct  species  of  persons. 

1st.  The  aborigines  or  Indian  hunters  scatter- 
ed over  the  Western  States.  These,  as  we  have 
before  remarked,  are  inconsiderable  in  number 
and  visibly  diminish. 

2nd.  The  whites  of  European  origin,  who 
form  a  great  majority  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States. 

3d.  The  blacks  in  all  the  variety  of  complex- 
ion of  the  African  race. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  that  according  to  the 

last  census  of  1810,  the  population  of  the  United 

Slates  amounted  to  7,239,903  inhabitants.     Of 

this  grand  total,  the  whites  constituted  about  six 

4 


26 

millions.  The  black  slaves,  mnlattoes  and  free 
negroes,  make  together  1,377,810  persons. 

This  population  equally  distributed  over  the 
whole  surface  of  the  United  States,  would  allow 
about  five  and  three-fourths  of  inhabitants  to 
each  German  square  mile. 

Ages  will  therefore  elapse,  before  it  will  have 
acquired  a  density  proportionate  to  the  extent,  of 
the  territory  it  is  destined  to  occupy. 

According  to  Dr.  Seybert,  the  population  is 
divided  among  the  different  States  in  the  Union 
in  the  following  ratio,  agreeably  to  the  Census 
of  1810. 


27 
State  of  New- York      -    -    - 


7 


l 


Virginia     -     -    -     - 
Pennsylvania      -    -      j      2 
Massachusetts      -    -    ,\r     £• 


To 


l 
IT 


1 

1 

"5"9 


O 


i        £L 

IT        h_- 
u 

1  ° 


- 


North  Carolina  - 

South  Carolina  - 

Kentucky  -    -  - 

Maryland  -    -  - 

—  ♦ 

Georgia      -    -    -    -  ,*¥  § 

New-Jersey    -    -    -  ¥\  ^ 

Ohio 7\  £ 

Connecticut   -    - 


Tennessee  -  -  -  ^\  g- 
New  Hampshire  -  ^-y  ££ 
Vermont  -  -  -  -  ^\  §f 
Rhode-Island  -  - 
Delaware  -    -    - 


By  the  same  author  we  are  informed,  that 
the  free  whites,  from  1790  to  1800,  increased 
J6TW  P-  c.  from  1800  to  1810,  35T9TV  P-  c-5  an(l 
luring  twenty  years,  embracing  these  two  peri- 
ods, 85Ty6  p.  c. 

The  number  of  free  blacks  and  mulattocs  in- 
reased  from  1790  to  1800, 185  J0- p.  c;  from 


•iS 
1800  to  1810, 169^  p.  c;  and  in  twenty  years, 

Doctor  Seybert  attributes  tins  extraordinary 
augmentation  of  the  last  mentioned  species  of 
population,  to  the  manumission  of  slaves  by  their 
masters,  and  the  desertion  of  the  former,  who, 
when  they  once  arrive  in  the  northern  states,  are 
considered  as  freemen. 

The  slave  population  increased  from  1790  to 
1800,  24-jVv  p.  c;  from  1800  to  1810,  35  A* 
p.  c;  and  during  these  twenty  years,  79  TW  p-  c. 
The  whole  of  the  free  and  slave  population  in- 
creased from  1790  to  1800,  35  ,%%  p.  c;  from 
1800  to  1810,   36  1^-T  p.  c;  and  during  these 
twenty  years  84TVo  P-  c;  (Seybert,  page  24, 25.) 
To  extend  further  our  researches  on  this  head, 
would  be  an  act  of  supererogation.     The  facts 
which  have  already  been  quoted,  are  sufficient  to 
authorize  the  conclusion,  that  population  in  the 
United  States  multiplies  rapidly,  and  that  it  will 
continue  to  do  so  in  the  same  proportion,  as  long 
as  there  are  fertile  and  vacant  lands  in  abund- 
dance. 

Whilst  on  this  subject,  it  may  not  be  useless  to 
remark,  that  after  the  census  of  1810,  more  than 


29 

laalf  the  population  of  the  United  States,  consist- 
ed of  persons  above  sixteen  years  of  age;  and  be- 
fore we  take  leave  of  it  entirely,  some  general 
observations  respecting  the  black  population  may 
not  be  irrevelant. 

In  every  condition  of  civilized  society,  or  where 
it  approaches  civilization,  slavery,  however  ame- 
liorated it  may  be  by  the  operation  of  laws  and 
customs,  is  an  absolute  evil;  because  it  is  in  the 
nature  of  slavery,  as  in  every  other  usurpation 
of  right  or  abuse  of  power,  to  retard  civilization 
by  cramping  the  developement  of  the  moral  facul- 
ties with  which  the  Supreme  Being  has  endow- 
ed mankind.  This  evil  assumes  a  character,  dan- 
gerous in  another  way,  in  a  country,  where  ci- 
vil liberty  is  incessantly  invoked — where  every 
thing  is  done  in  its  name  and  for  its  perpetuation. 
Such  is  the  case  with  the  United  States,  where 
blacks  either  actually  in  slavery  or  emancipated 
from  it,  compose  nearly  the  sixteenth  part,  if  not 
more,  of  the  whole  population.  Hence  the  in- 
convenience of  slavery  is  the  more  serious,  as  na- 
ture herself  has  placed  an  eternal  barrier  between 
the  two  classes, which,  in  the  United  States, stand 
towards  each  oilier  in  the  relation  of  master  and 


30 

slave .  The  difference  of  colour  and  conformation 
of  face,  oppose  insurmountable  obstacles  to  their 
gradual  emancipation.  Nevertheless,  it  is  going 
on  rapidly  in  the  United  States.  By  thecensus  of 
eighteen  hund  red  and  ten,  the  number  of  black  and 
free  persons  of  colour  was  one  hundred  and  eigh- 
ty-six thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-six.  Yet 
it  is  precisely  this  portion  of  the  inhabitants  that 
must  be  regarded  as  the  most  troublesome  and 
dangerous.  The  reason  is  plain.  Like  their 
brethren  in  slavery,  the  free  blacks  and  mulat- 
toes  are  not  only  exiled  from  the  society  of  the 
whites,  but  excluded  from  all  participation  of 
power,  by  virtue  of  common  usage;  for  the  law 
does  not  recognize  any  difference  of  colour,  nor 
does  it  establish  any  distinction,  except  that  of 
master  and  slave.  Consequently  it  is  very  natu- 
ral that  the  hostility  existing  between  the  free 
blacks  and  the  whites,  should  be  more  inveterate 
than  that  of  slaves  towards  their  masters,  the  for- 
mer being  completely  subjected  to  their  controul; 
for  the  free  blacks  knowing  the  delights  and  ad- 
vantages of  liberty,  and  living  in  the  midst  of  free 
men,  must  frequently  experience  those  mortify- 
ing and  humiliating  sensations  that  disdain  and 
contempt  never  fail  to  inspire. 


31 

The  inconvenience  of  such  a  population  is 
generally  felt  throughout  the  country.  Nor  is 
it  pretended  to  he  concealed,  that  in  the  event  of 
an  insurrection  on  the  part  of  the  slaves,  they 
would  look  for  leaders  among  the  free  blacks. 
With  a  view  to  obviate  this  danger,  laws  have 
been  framed  throughout  all  the  United  States, 
where  slavery  subsists.  In  Virginia,  especially, 
a  law  is  in  force,  by  which  all  manumitted  slaves 
are  compelled  to  quit  the  Commonwealth.* 

The  same  policy  has  prevailed  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  American  Society  for  the  colo- 
nization of  free  persons  of  colour.  This  so- 
ciety was  formed  about  two  years  ago,  and 
counts  among  its  members  the  most  distinguish- 
i  d  citizens  of  the  several  States  of  the  Union. 
Its  principal  object  is  to  get  rid  gradually  of  this 
class  of  human  beings,  by  colonizing  them  on 
the  Coast,  of  Africa  near  the  English  colony  of 


'Precautions,  suggested  by  the  same  fears,  have  been  carried 
D  further  in  the  State  of  Virginia.     By  legislative  enactmen' 
Forbidden,  under  heavy  fines,  and  even  corporal  punish- 
ment, to  tcaeh  black  slaves  to  read  or  write 


32 

Sierra  Leone.    In  January  1 820,  the  first  expe- 
dition of  the  colonists  left  the  ports  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  for  the  place  of  their  destination.* 
From  all  the  calculations  made  concerning  the 
population  of  the  United  States,  it  appears  that 
the  blacks  increase  in  an  equal  proportion  with 
the  whites.     This  single  fact  is  enough  to  put 
beyond  doubt  the  good  treatment  which  the 
slaves  in  general  receive,  for  man  like  all  other 
organized  beings,  does  not  multiply  in  a  state  of 
constant  suffering.     Slaves  being  regarded  in  the 
United  States  in  the  light  of  chattels,  enjoy  no 
political  rights.    Nevertheless,  by  a  kind  of 
anomaly  which  cannot  fail  to  astonish  at  the 
first  glance,  it  is  a  fact,  that  these  self  same  slaves 
delegate  that  political  power  to  others  of  which 
they  themselves  are  destitute.    This  enigma  is 
solved  when  we  recollect  that  at  the  formation 
of  the  Federal   Constitution  in  1787,  it  was 


*The  unsuccessful  termination  of  this  first  attempt  at  colo- 
nization, under  the  auspices  of  the  society,  scarcely  permits  the 
hope  of  a  more  fortunate  result  in  future.  Besides,  the  enter- 
prise isgigantic,  and  the  means  at  the  disposition  of  the  society, 
extremely  limited.  It  may  be  anticipated  that  the  labours  of 
this  association,  (so  respectable  in  itself,)  will  turn  out  like 
the  cask  of  the  Danaides. 


33 

agreed  between  the  southern  and  northern 
States,  that  three  fifths  of  the  slaves  in  the  for- 
mer should  be  considered  as  so  many  freemen, 
that  is  to  say,  that  500.000  negro  slaves  at  this 
moment  residents  of  Virginia,  should  be  rated 
as  300,000  freemen. 

In  virtue  of  this  compromise,  the  southern 
States  which  tolerated  slavery,  have  to  this  time, 
exercised  a  preponderating  influence  in  the  con- 
duct of  national  affairs.  As  a  striking  proof 
of  this  truth,  of  the  five  Presidents  chosen  since 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  four  have  been 
from  Virginia.* 

From  similar  considerations,  the  question 
arose  whether  slavery  should  be  permitted  to  ex- 


*THESE  FIVE   PRESIDENTS  ARE, 

1st.  GenL  Washington,     -     -     Virginia. 
2d.   Mr.  Adams,     ...     -      Massachusetts. 
3d.  Mr.  Jefferson,     -     -     -        Virginia. 
4th.  Mr.   Madison,         -     -     -  Do. 

6th.  Mr.   Monroe,     -       -     -     -       Do. 

It  must  be  remarked  that  Mr.  Adams  was  President  only 
during  ioiir  years,  whilst  the  rest  (with  the  exception  of  the 
officiating  president,)  were  bo  during  two  terms  fixed  by  the 
constitution,  or  eight  years.  There  is  do  doubl  bul  that  Mr. 
Monroe,  who  has  not  yet  finished  hie  first  term,  will  he  re-elect- 
ed for  tin  second. 

5 


34 

ist  or  prohibited  in  the  new  State  of  Missou- 
ri, so  warmly  debated  during  the  present  session 
of  Congress,  derived  its  importance.  It  has  just 
been  decided  in  favour  of  the  toleration  of  sla- 
very; and  in  this  way  is  a  predominating  influ- 
ence, for  a  considerable  time  to  come,  secured 
to  the  States  which  allow  it. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  is  distri- 
buted among  them  in  the  following  propor- 
tions. 

Number  of  Inhabitants  to  each  square  mile. 

Connecticut  .        .  .        .        60 

Massachusetts  .        .  .        .54 

New- York     .        .  .        .18 

Pennsylvania     .        .  .        .16 

Virginia        .        .  .        .        14 

Louisiana,  less  than,  .        .       2 

(Melish's  description  of  America.)* 

These  statements  will  show  the  disparity  be- 
tween the  population  of  the  United  States  and 
its  territorial  dimensions. 

Another  observation  may  be  proper  in  this 
place:  it  is,  that  the  black  population,  notwith- 


*  This  distribution  corresponds  to  the  census  of  1810. 


35 

standing  its  number,  so  far  from  contributing  in 
any  degree  to  the  defence  of  the  country,  is  ra- 
ther a  cause  of  weakness  and  alarm,  than  of 
strength,  security,  and  tranquillity.  (See  app. 
note  C.) 


36 


CHAP.  III. 

THE  AMERICAN  CONFEDERATION. 

The  American  confederation  consists  of  twen- 
ty-four states;  which  are, 

1  New-Hampshire, 

2  Maine, 

3  Massachusetts, 

4  Rhode  Island, 

5  Connecticut, 

6  Vermont, 

7  New- York, 

8  Pennsylvania, 

9  New-Jersey, 

10  Delaware, 

11  Maryland, 

12  Virginia, 

13  North  Carolina, 

14  South  Carolina, 

15  Georgia, 

16  Kentucky, 

17  Tennessee, 

18  Ohio,  . 


37 

19  Louisiana, 

20  Indiana, 

21  Mississippi, 

22  Illinois, 

23  Alabama, 

24  Missouri. 

The  states  of  Maine  and  Missouri  were  not 
admitted  into  the  Union,  until  the  session  of 
Congress  of  1821. 

The  following  territories  destined  on  a  future 
day,  to  enlarge  the  Union;  when  their  popula- 
tion shall  have  attained  the  requisite  number 
fixed  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States* 
and  shall  be  capable  of  supporting  a  local  govern- 
ment, like  the  rest  of  the  States,  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  dependencies  of  the  American  con- 
federation. 

1st.    The  Arkansaw  Territory. 
2d.    North  Western  Territory. 


*It  is  established  by  the  Federal  Constitution  as  a  general 
rule  thai  every  territory  belonging  to  the  I'nited  States,  shall 
have  the  right  of  .admission  into  the  Union  as  a  state,  when 
it  population  shall  amount  to  sixty  thousand  persons.  But 
tliis  admission  into  the  Union,  may  be  granted  by  Congress 
by  special  favour,  when  the  population  of  a  territory  lias  attain- 
ed but  half  the  number  required  by  the  law.    (Jpp-  -Hotc  C.) 


nv-\  -'.s;R 


38 

3d.   Michigan  Territory. 
4th.  District  of  Columbia. 

The  last  enumerated,  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, subjected  to  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of 
Congress,  contains  the  City  of  Washington,  the 
metropolis  of  the  Union,  and  the  seat  of  the 
Federal  Government. 

In  all  probability  the  number  of  the  states 
forming  the  Union,  will  ere  long,  be  augmented 
by  the  incorporation  of  East  Florida,  which  will 
complete  the  southern  frontier  of  the  United 
States. 

We  should  exceed  the  limits  of  this  sketch, 
by  giving  a  suscinct  description  of  the  different 
states  composing  the  American  confederation. 
Independent  sovereignties,  so  far  as  concerns 
their  local  interests,  they  are  scarcely  distinguish- 
able from  each  other  in  the  body  politic  which 
they  united  constitute. 

To  convey  a  general  but  an  accurate  idea  of 
them,  it  is  only  necessary  to  state,  that  they  are 
so  many  republics  erected  on  the  principles  of  a 
pure  democracy.  The  differences  observable  in 
their  respective  forms  of  government  exists  only 
externally.  They  rest  on  a  common  foundation; 


3d 

every  where  the  numerical  majority  influences 
directly  the  choice  of  men  and  measures:  every 
where  the  executive  power,  very  limited  in  its 
attributes,  is  frequently  renewed;  every  where 
in  fine,  the  people  possess  rights  reserved  to  them- 
selves which  their  legislators  dare  not  touch. 
These  rights,  having  for  their  object  individual 
liberty  and  security,  are  like  the  laws  of  Moses, 
placed  on  a  tabernacle,  which  no  profane  hand 
dares  assail.  Viewed  at  a  distance,  this  constel- 
lation of  republics  pleases  the  eye  and  satisfies 
the  mind;  the  principles  on  which  they  are  bas- 
ed, reflect  honor  upon  humanity;  the  apparent 
effects  of  these  popular  forms  of  government, 
present  the  image  of  happiness  and  contentment; 
but  as  soon  as  you  examine  them  more  closely, 
you  discover  serious  imperfections,  and  even  ano- 
malies. In  watching  over  individual  rights  thus 
tenderly,  justice  is  rendered  incompetent  to  the 
suppression  of  many  offences  committed  in  the 
daily  transactions  of  life.  Without  being  very 
important  in  themselves,  they  nevertheless  af- 
fect public  order  and  tranquillity;  a  well  organ- 
ized police,  a  thing  incompatible  with  American 
institutions,  could  easily,  at  least  in  a  considera- 


40 

hie  degree,  have  prevented  their  occurrence.  In 
guarding  against  the  abuse  of  executive  power, 
they  have  made  it  incapable  of  fulfilling  the  ob- 
ligations they  have  imposed  upon  it,  whether  it 
concerns  the  conduct  of  the  foreign  relations  of 
the  country,  or  those  of  the  confederated  states 
among  themselves.  In  their  anxiety  to  restrict 
the  expenses  of  government,  they  have  exclud- 
ed from  public  employment  men  of  education 
and  talents;  for  it  is  certain,  and  all  those  who 
have  sojourned  any  time  in  the  United  States 
will  concur  in  the  opinion,  that  a  seat  in  Con- 
gress is  little  sought  after  by  lawyers  and  phy- 
sicians in  possession  of  an  extensive  practice.* 

This  is  not  however  the  place  to  enter  into  a 
critical  examination  of  popular  governments. 
Like  every  other  work  of  man,  it  bears  the 
stamp  of  imperfection.  But  if,  as  the  author 
believes,  limited  and  constitutional  monarchies 
better  guarantee  individual  safety  and  public 


*  These  observations  should  be  taken  in  a  limited  sense,  that 
is  to  say,  as  applicable  to  all  democratical  governments.  To 
prevent  any  misunderstanding  on  this  point,  the  author  does 
not  hesitate  to  declare  it  as  his  conviction,  that  a  republican 
government  alone  suits  the  United  States  in  their  present  situ- 
ation, and  is  the  only  one  which  could  subsist  in  that  country. 


41 

tranquillity  than  democratical  states;  yet  it  is 
certain,  at  least,  that  the  latter  are  the  most  eco- 
nomical form  of  government  that  can  be  adopt- 
ed: and,  whatever  we  may  think  of  it  in  other 
respects,  this  must  be  admitted  to  be  a  very  im- 
portant advantage  in  a  country  which  meteor 
like  is  just  bursting  from  obscurity. 

There  prevails  among  the  American  people 
an  almost  universal  opinion,  and  which  will  not 
be  easily  eradicated,  that  under  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances in  which  their  country  is  placed,  a 
popular  government  is  the  best  adapted  to  them. 
They  have  known  no  other  since  its  first  co- 
lonization, and  the  history  of  the  United  States 
furnishes  no  single  incident  exhibiting  the  slight- 
est tendency  in  the  nation  towards  a  change  in 
the  existing  form  of  government — a  form  which 
recommends  itself  so  powerfully  to  their  fa- 
vour by  the  smallness  of  the  expenditure  ne- 
cessary for  its  maintenance.  It  is  only  when 
the  Americans  represent  their  institutions  as  a 
perfect  creation  of  human  wisdom,  suscepti- 
ble of  application  at  all  times  and  to  all  coun- 
tries, that  the  extravagance  of  their  republican 
notions  becomes  manifest.   For  after  all,  the  iu- 

6 


42 

stitutions  of  which  they  seem  so  proud,  having: 
as  yet  stood  the  test  of  but  forty  years  experi- 
ence, cannot  be  regarded  as  having  been  submit- 
ted to  a  conclusive  experiment.  They  have  yet 
to  pass  through  the  ordeal  of  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity of  a  great  power  like  that  of  Mexico, 
when  this  kingdom,  after  having  entirely  severed 
its  political  ties  with  Spain  shall  be  permanently 
erected  into  an  independent  state,  either  in  the 
form  of  a  constitutional  monarchy,  or  an  indivi- 
sible republic.  The  first  effect  of  this  change 
of  character  on  the  United  States,  would  be  to 
create  an  absolute  necessity  for  a  considerable 
increase  of  their  regular  army,  and  thereby  of 
the  influence  of  the  federal  government. 

Meanwhile  we  have  already  witnessed  the 
experiments  of  federated  republics,  constructed 
on  the  model  of  the  United  States,  among  South 
American  colonies  of  Spain.  As  yet,  these  ex- 
periments have  produced  but  bitter  fruits;  and 
it  is  still  very  doubtful  whether  they  will  ever 
be  productive  of  a  better  harvest,  because  the 
elements  of  a  democratical  government  do  not 
exist  in  those  provinces,  and  are  never  created 
by  constitutions  framed  under  the  pressure  of 
sudden  emergencies. 


43 


CHAP.  IV. 

THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT. 

The  general  interests  of  the  American  Union, 
are  entrusted  to  a  central  government  establish- 
ed in  the  city  of  Washington.  It  is  proper  to 
have  an  idea  of  its  structure,  because  all  the  re- 
lations of  the  country  with  foreign  nations,  fall 
within  the  scope  of  its  powers. 

The  federal  government,  as  well  as  the  par- 
ticular state  governments,  is  composed  of  three 
elementary  parts,  or,  in  other  words,  of  three 
distinct  powers:  that  is  to  say,  the  executive,  le- 
gislative and  judicial. 

The  executive  power  is  confided  to  a  Presi- 
dent for  the  term  of  four  years:  although,  ac- 
cording to  the  constitution,  he  may  be  indefi- 
nitely re-elected.  Custom,  which  in  free  coun- 
tries is  frequently  stronger  than  law,  has  deter- 
mined that  the  President  is  re-eli^ible  but  once. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  it  should  happen  that  he 
is  not  re-elected  at  the  expiration  of  the  first 


44 

term,  it  is  considered  as  a  political  dishonour. 
This  is  the  reason  why  the  first  term  of  each 
President  is  employed  in  securing  re-election 
through  the  agency  of  the  friends  he  makes,  by 
flattering  every  popular  sentiment  which  seems 
to  have  any  consistency. 

Such  liability  to  change  in  the  executive 
branch,  does  not  allow  the  American  govern- 
ment to  follow  any  fixed  policy,  and  even  com- 
pels it  to  pursue  courses  dictated  by  dominant 
opinions,  often  contrariant  to  each  other.  This 
defect  in  the  federal  constitution  is  acknowledg- 
ed by  all  enlightened  Americans.  They  all 
agree  that  it  would  be  better  to  prolong  the 
term  of  service  of  the  President,  by  abolishing 
re-election,* 

The  President  is  assisted  in  the  administration 
of  the  affairs  of  the  government  by  four  Minis- 
ters or  Secretaries  of  State. 

The  Secretary  of  State,  properly  speaking, 
who  unites  in  this  office  the  two  departments  of 
internal  and  foreign  affairs. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  or  of  finances. 
The  customs,  public  lands,  the  post  office,  and 

*  Quere  de  hoc. — Translator. 


45 

all  other  sources  of  revenue  fall  within  the  pro- 
vince of  this  officer  of  the  government. 

The  Secretary  at  War.  To  his  department 
belong  the  army  and  all  the  military  establish- 
ments of  the  Union;  such  as  fortifications,  arse- 
nals, ammunition,  &c.  He  likewise  superin- 
tends the  relations  of  the  United  States  with  the 
different  tribes  of  Indians  residing  within  their 
territory  or  in  its  neighbourhood. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  entrusted  with 
all  the  details  of  the  administration  of  the  naval 
department,  save  those  relating  to  the  construc- 
tion of  vessels,  which  are  confided  to  a  distinct 
body,  called  the  Navy  Board,  consisting  of  three 
naval  officers,  of  acknowledged  experience  and 
ability  in  their  profession. 

These  assistants  of  the  President  with  the 
Attorney  General,  form  the  President's  council. 
The  Attorney  General  conducts  all  the  litiga- 
tions of  the  government. 

The  authority  of  the  First  Magistrate  is  very 
limited,  and  indeed  it  can  scarcely  be  other- 
wise, in  a  pure  Democracy.  He  cannot  origi- 
nate a  law;  his  veto  or  right  of  rejection  is  res- 
trained; that  is  to  say,  he  is  forced  to  assent  to 


4b 

a  law  which  he  may  have  rejected,  after  the  le- 
gislature shall  have  re-considered  it  and  passed 
it  by  a  majority  of  two-thirds.  He  can  even  he 
tried  for  malversation,  treason,  or  any  capital  of- 
fence. Notwithstanding  the  restrictions  which 
a  protecting  spirit  of  liberty  has  thought  proper 
to  impose  on  the  authority  of  the  President,  it  is 
not  possible  to  strip  him  of  certain  prerogatives 
which,  in  every  age  and  in  all  countries,  have 
been  objects  of  competition  for  men  ambitious 
of  power  and  wealth. 

The  President,  in  conjunction  with  the  Se 
nate,  is  commander  in  chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  United  States.  He  nominates  to  all 
offices  under  the  general  government;  but  as  the 
right  of  nomination  belongs  to  him  exclusively, 
he  can  dispense  many  favours,  and  take  all  the 
credit  to  himself,  since  with  a  little  address,  he 
can  always  secure  a  majority  in  the  Senate. 
The  President  has  the  right  of  pardon,  except 
in  cases  of  treason. 

His  salary  is  twenty-live  thousand  dollars,  be- 
sides a  furnished  house  belonging  to  the  general 
government. 


4T 

The  salary  of  the  Secretaries  is  six  thousand 
dollars  each. 

The  first  public  officer,  a  iter  the  President,  is 
the  Vice  President  of  the  United  States.  His 
whole  duty  is  confined  to  presiding  over  the  Se- 
nate. He  has  no  politieal  importance  whatsoever; 
it  might  even  he  said,  that  this  office  scarcely 
belongs  to  the  system  or  organization  of  the  fe- 
deral government.  The  salary  of  the  Vice  Pre- 
sident is  five  thousand  dollars. 

After  having  thus  reviewed  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government,  we  will  merely  take 
a  rapid  glance  at  the  two  houses  of  Congress, 
which  are  the  source  of  all  legislation  in  res- 
pect to  the  general  interests  of  the  American 
confederation. 

The  Small. 

The  first  house  of  Congress  is  the  Senate. 
which  represents,  or  nt  Least  i*  reputed  to  repre- 
sent, the  aristocratieal  interests  of  the  country, 
tiny  being  nothing  more  than  the  sovereignty 
of  the  different  states  of  the  Union,  from  which 
the  members  of  the  Senate  are  delegated.  This 


48 

body  participates  at  once  in  both  the  legislative 
and  executive  power;  for  the  consent  of  the  Se- 
nate is  indispensible  to  all  nominations  made  by 
the  President,  as  well  as  to  the  ratification  of 
all  treaties  concluded  with  foreign  nations.  The 
concurrence  of  the  Senate  is  equally  necessary 
to  give  the  laws  a  character  of  authenticity 
without  which  they  would  not  be  valid. 

Every  state  of  the  Union,  without  regard  to 
its  territorial  dimensions  or  population,  is  re- 
presented in  the  Senate  by  two  members  elect- 
ed for  the  term  of  six  years.  Their  number 
amounted  to  forty-four,  but  it  has  since  been  ex- 
tended to  forty-eight  by  the  admission  into  the 
Union  of  two  new  states,  Maine  and  Missouri. 

Senators  as  well  as  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  receive  a  per  diem  of  eight  dol- 
lars for  the  time  during  which  the  session  of 
Congress  lasts.  They  are  allowed  besides  an  in- 
demnity for  their  travelling  expenses  at  the  rate 
of  eight  dollars  for  every  twenty  or  English 
thirty  miles,  which  they  have  to  travel  in  repair- 
ing to,  or  returning  from  Congress. 

Seats  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  are 
much  sought  after,  because  they  are  retained 


49 

longer  than  any  other  official  station,  and  the  in- 
cumbent is  therefore  less  dependant  on  popular 
favour  than  in  any  other  public  employment. 

One  of  the  qualifications  required  by  the  con- 
stitution to  be  eligible  as  Senator,  is,  that  he 
should  be  thirty  years  of  age. 

The  House  of  Representatives. 

The  democratical  or  popular  branch  of  the 
federal  government,  consists  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  the  members  of  which  are  cho- 
sen for  the  term  of  two  years,  at  the  ratio  of  one 
member  for  thirty-five  thousand  free  inhabitants. 
Their  number  is  now  one  hundred  and  eighty. 
The  qualifications  of  an  elector,  vary  in  the  dif- 
ferent states  of  the  Union.  In  some  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  prove  one  year's  residence,  and  the  pay- 
ment of  municipal  taxes;  whilst  in  other  states, 
as  in  Virginia,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the 
voter  should  be  a  bona  fide  proprietor  of  a  free- 
hold. 

In  all  the  states,  minority  ceases  at  twenty- 
one  years  of  age. 

The  number  of  Representatives  would  not  be 
7 


50 

so  considerable,  if  at  the  time  of  the  formation 
of  the  Federal  Constitution,  they  had  not  been 
obliged,  by  way  of  a  compromise,  to  grant  to  the 
slave  holding  states  the  right  of  counting  three- 
fifths  of  their  slaves  as  so  many  free  citizens.  Of 
this  we  have  already  spoken. 

The  actual  representation  is  calculated  accord- 
ing to  the  census  of  1810.  As  the  population 
has  considerably  increased  since  that  period,  it  is 
probable,  that,  with  a  view  of  preventing  too 
great  an  augmentation  of  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  proportion  of  in- 
dividuals represented  by  a  single  delegate,  will 
be  raised  from  thirty-five  to  forty  thousand  per- 
sons. 

The  House  of  Representatives,  holding  the 
strings  of  the  national  purse,  exerts  a  preponde- 
rating influence  over  the  general  affairs  of  the 
nation.  Nevertheless  it  does  not  enjoy  equal 
consideration  with  the  Senate,  the  former  being 
re-elected  three  times  during  the  term  fixed  by 
the  constitution  for  the  renewal  of  the  Senate, 


31 


The  Judiciary. 

The  Judicial  power  of  the  federal  government, 
is  vested  in  a  tribunal  composed  of  seven  judges, 
the  eldest  of  whom  fills  the  place  of  President, 
Avith  the  title  of  Chief  Justice.  This  tribunal 
ultimately  decides  the  litigations  which  arise 
between  citizens  of  different  states,  between  fo- 
reigners and  American  citizens,  and  finally  be- 
tween the  general  government  of  the  United 
States  and  the  particular  state  governments  of 
the  Union.  But  of  all  the  duties  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  (for  it  is  thus  this  court  is  deno- 
minated), the  most  important  is  to  expound  the 
constitution  in  all  doubtful  cases.  This  duty 
has  devolved  on  the  Supreme  Court  rather  by 
usage  than  by  any  positive  law. 

It  holds  its  sessions  in  the  city  of  Washington 
at  fixed  periods.  Besides,  all  the  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  without  exception,  are  bound 
to  make  circuits  semi-annually  through  the  dis- 
tricts respectively  assigned  to  them,  and  to  sit, 
in  conjunction  with  local  Judges  on  all  cases. 


52 

which  by  their  nature,  belong  to  their  jurisdic- 
tion. 

The  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  cannot  be 
removed;  they  have  an  annual  salary  allowed 
them  of  from  four  thousand  five  hundred  to  five 
thousand  dollars. 

A  seat  on  the  bench  of  this  court  is  very  much 
aspired  to,  because  it  is  bestowed  only  on  men  of 
acknowledged  merit,  and  because  the  court  it- 
self is  held  in  high  repute  throughout  the  coun- 
try. 

The  Army. 

Among  the  general  observations  made  in  the 
commencement  of  this  work,  we  remarked,  that 
the  nature  and  genius  of  this  government  was 
incompatible  with  the  existence  of  a  standing 
army;  and  indeed,  that  of  the  United  States  is 
scarcely  sufficient  for  the  occupation  of  the  most 
important  points  in  the  defensive  system  of  the 
country.  It  does  not  exceed  at  most  ten  thous- 
and men  of  the  various  military  corps.  How- 
ever disproportioned  this  army  may  be  to  the 
extent  of  country  it  is  intended  to  protect,  ef- 
forts have  been  made  in  Congress  to  reduce  its 


53 

numbers.  These  have  at  length  succeeded,  and 
the  American  Army  is  now  diminished  to  six 
thousand  men  of  the  several  military  depart- 
ments. According  to  an  opinion  pretty  gene- 
rally entertained  in  the  United  States,  and  which 
certainly  is  not  without  foundation,  the  national 
militia,  the  numerical  force  of  which  is  eight 
hundred  thousand  men,  is  more  than  adequate 
to  the  protection  of  the  country  from  foreign  in- 
vasion. This  will  be  true,  as  long  as  local  dif- 
ficulties inherent  in  a  territory  so  extensive  and 
so  thinly  populated,  oppose  almost  insurmounta- 
ble impediments  to  the  march  of  an  hostile  army. 
There  is  much  wanting  to  render  this  nume- 
rous militia,  a  well  organized  and  disciplined 
force.  Such  a  military  result  can  scarcely  be 
expected  under  a  government  democratically 
constituted.  The  organization  of  this  truly  na- 
tional defence,  is  in  its  infancy.  Yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  deficiency  is  counterbalanced 
by  the  general  topography  of  the  country,  as 
well  as  by  the  natural  qualities  of  the  North 
Americans,  who,  although  bad  soldiers  in  mat- 
ters of  discipline,  are  nevertheless  very  brave 
and  inured  to  fatigues  and  privations. 


54 

The  Army  of  the  United  States  is  well  cloth- 
ed and  paid.    It  is  however  almost  entirely  des- 
titute of  skilful  officers,  especially  in  the  artille- 
ry and  engineer  departments.    There  is  but  a 
single  nursery  of  officers;  that  is,  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point  on  the  North  river,  in 
the  state  of  New  York,  supported  at  the  expense 
of  the  General  Government.    That  institution 
has  illy  realized  the  hopes  which  were  formed 
of  its  usefulness.    Licentiousness  and  neglect 
of  discipline  among  the  Cadets,  favoured,  as  it 
were,  by  the  political  atmosphere  of  this  vast 
republic,  have  given  rise  to  serious  complaints. 
A  motion  was  even  made  in  Congress  to  sup- 
press the  establishment  altogether;  and  it  is  in- 
debted for  its  present  existence  solely  to  the 
patriotic  efforts  of  some  members  of  Congress, 
who  were  convinced  that  the  preservation  of 
this  military  school,  notwithstanding  its  defects, 
was  required  by  national  honour  and  public 
utility.    The  expense  of  the  War  Department 
in  all  its  branches  (including  arrearages)  was  in 
the  year  1S19,  nine  millions  one  hundred  and 
ninety-five  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-one 
dollars  and  seventy-two  cents. 


55 


CHAP.  VI. 

THE  NAVY 

Until  the  last  war  of  the  United  States  with 
England,  in  1815,  this  so  efficient  a  branch  of 
national  defence,  was  altogether  neglected.  Ex- 
traordinary circumstances  and  painful  experi- 
ence were  required  to  correct  on  this  subject, 
the  opinions  of  those  who  undertook  to  direcl 
national  affairs  in  1800;  the  enlightened  part  of 
the  nation  always  considered  the  navy  as  the 
true  bulwark  of  the  country. 

It  was  only  since  this  war,  that  the  American 
government,  awakened  from  the  error  into  which 
it  had  fallen,  took  pains  to  repair  it,  by  plac- 
ing the  navy  of  the  United  States  on  a  respectable 
footing;  one,  corresponding  to  the  services  it  had 
already  rendered,  as  well  as  the  lofty  anticipa- 
tion it  had  given  rise  to  throughout  the  nation. 

The  naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  accord- 
ing to  an  official  statement,  (published  in  1 822.^ 
19  comprised  in  the  following  table. 


56 

Ships  of  the  Line  carrying  74  guns. 

The  Independence, 
Washington, 
Franklin, 
Columbus, 
Ohio, 

North  Carolina, 
Delaware. 

Frigates  of  the  first  class. 

The  Constitution, 

United  States,   f 

_     ^  >  each  carrying  44  guns. 

La  Guemere,    L 

Java,  ^ 

Frigates  of  second  class. 

Congress, 

Constellation, 

Macedonian, 

Fulton,  s/eam  frigate  carrying  30  guns- 

Corvettes  carrying  24  guns. 

Hornet, 
Ontario, 
Erie, 
Peacock, 
Alert,  store  ship. 


57 


Brigs  carrying  1 

2  guns. 

Enterprize, 

Spark. 

Schooners 

i 

Nonsuch, 

6  guns. 

Alligator, 

12  do. 

Porpoise, 

12   do. 

Dolphin, 

12   do. 

Shark, 

12  do. 

Grampus, 

12   do. 

Asp,  receiving  vessel, 

Lady  of  the  Lake, 

1     do. 

Armed  Sloops. 

Nos.  95,  8,  76,  158,  168, — each  carrying 
from  1  to  6  guns. 

Naval  architecture  is  carried  in  the  United 
States  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  although 
it  is  executed  merely  from  practical  knowledge. 

S 


5$ 

The  American  sailor  is  not  surpassed,  in  dexter- 
ity and  courage,  by  any  other  in  the  world.  We 
might  say  the  same  of  the  officers,  but  it  cannot 
be  disguised  that  the  greater  part  of  them  are  stil! 
ignorant  of  that  theoretical  science  indispen- 
sible  to  their  profession. 

The  partial  successes  of  the  American  Navy, 
during  the  last  war  against  Great  Britain,  seems 
to  have  intoxicated  the  whole  nation.  The 
English,  not  long  since  so  formidable,  are  at  this 
day  frequently  an  object  of  derision,  and  even 
of  contempt  in  the  eyes  of  Americans,  who  have 
never  travelled  beyond  the  boundaries  of  their 
own  country. 

Of  all  the  branches  of  public  service,  the  navy 
being  the  most  popular,  meets  with  least  oppo- 
sition in  Congress,  when  the  annual  budget  is 
regulated. 

The  expenses  of  the  naval  department,  dur- 
ing the  year  1819,  amounted  to  3,827,640^ 
dollars,  comprising  the  appropriation  of  a  million 
of  dollars  annually  for  four  years,  for  the  grad- 
ual increase  of  the  navy.  Congress  having  made 
no  retrenchments  in  the  sums  demanded  by  the 


59 

government  for  this  department,  the  expense*- 
for  the  present  year  are  about  the  same. 

Should  not  unforeseen  events  derange  the  or- 
dinary course  of  things,  in  a  few  years  hence, 
the  navy  of  the  United  States  will  amount  to 
eleven  ships  of  the  line  and  thirty  frigates,  with 
a  proportionate  number  of  small  vessels  of  war. 


bO 


CHAP.  VII. 


finajvcf:s 


We  have  before  observed  that  the  finances  of 
the  United  States  consist  almost  entirely  of  two 
items : 

1st.  The  product  of  the  Customs. 
2d.  The  product  of  the  sale  of  Public  Lands, 
situated  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
&c. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  from  the  year 
1815  to  1821,  the  revenue  from  the  Customs, 
diminished  by  nearly  twenty  millions  of  dollars. 
It  amounted  in 

1815,  to     -     -     -    -      $36,306,022  57 
1819,  to    -     -     -     -      $17,116,702  00 
Deficit,  $19,189,320   57 
The  revenue  from  the  sale  of  Public  Lands 
has  always  been  increasing  since  the  same  pe- 
riods.   Nevertheless,  the  difficulties  which  the 
treasury  encountered  in  the  recovery  of  money 
due  from  purchasers  of  public  lands,  not  with- 


61 

standing  the  long  credits  usually  given  them, 
caused  great  arrearages  to  exist  in  this  branch  of 
the  finances  of  the  State.  Two  dollars  per  acre 
was  the  fixed  price  of  public  lands;  one  fourth 
payable  immediately  on  delivery,  and  the  resi- 
due in  equal  instalments,  in  the  course  of  three 
years.  If,  at  the  expiration  of  that  period,  the 
whole  purchase  money  had  not  been  paid,  the 
land  reverted  to  the  treasury  without  the  reim- 
bursement of  the  first  payment.  No  one  was 
allowed  to  purchase  more  than  a  certain  quanti- 
ty of  these  lands;  the  minimum  was  one  hund- 
red and  sixty  acres. 

An  act  was  recently  passed  by  the  two  houses, 
by  which  the  price  of  public  lands  was  reduced 
from  two  dollars  to  one  dollar  and  twenty-five 
cents  per  acre,  but  payable  in  cash,  immediate- 
ly on  the  completion  of  the  sale. 

In  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, for  the  year  1819,  the  sale  of  public  lands 
amounted  to  $2,8 58,5 5 6 TVV,  but  in  the  estimate 
of  the  revenue  of  the  year  1821,  the  same  item 
did  not  exceed  two  millions  of  dollars. 


b2 


Public  JDcbl. 

It  has  been  computed  that  up  to  the  1st  of 
January,  1840,  the  public  unredeemed  debt 
amounted  to  888,885,203,TyT. 

(Treasury  Annual  Report,  December  13.  1814.) 

According  to  the  same  official  document,  the 
comparative  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the 
present  year,  showed  a  deficit  of  85,000,000. 

After  having  passed  in  review,  the  different 
constituent  parts  of  the  Federal  Government,  it 
will  not  be  superfluous  to  terminate  this  sketch 
by  some  general  reflections. 

The  government  of  the  United  States,  so  ap- 
parently simple,  being  unincumbered  by  the  ad- 
ministration of  municipal  concerns,  is  neverthe- 
less very  complicated  in  its  movements  and  op- 
erations. 

We  have  already  seen  that  this  Government, 
incapable  of  exerting  any  powers  other  than 
those  specially  delegated  by  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, enjoys  but  a  limited  sovereignty.  Where- 
ever  a  measure,  either  of  general  or  particular 
interest,  such  as  the  nomination  to  office,  is  in 


63 

agitation,  the  executive  is  always  placed  in  the 
embarrassing  predicament  of  being  obliged   to 
harmonize  a  multitude  of  contrariant  interests 
and  conciliate  many  opposing  pretensions.     In  a 
word,  it  is  called  upon  to  satisfy  as  many  local 
sovereignties  as  possible,  or  perhaps  the  whole 
United  States,  each  one  of  which,  in  urging  its 
right  of  participation  in  the  conduct  of  general 
affairs,  wishes  to  maintain  the  exclusive  direc- 
tion of  its  domestic  concerns.     This  is  what  is 
meant  in  that  country,  by  geographical  and  sec- 
tional nominations;  that  is  to  say,  the  distribu- 
tion of  offices  at  the  disposition  of  the  Govern- 
ment, among  the  candidates  from  the  different 
states  of  the  Union  according  to  the  relative  po- 
litical importance  of  the  several  states  of  the 
confederation.    This  difficulty  seems  inherent 
in  a  government  at  the  same  time  democraticaJ 
and  federal.    As  long  as  the  country  preserves 
ils  internal  tranquillity,  the  executive  power  oi 
the  central  government,  always  placing  itself  at 
I  he  head  <>i'  the  stronger  party  of  each  state,  and 
usiiiLi  xine-  little  address,  will,  to  a  certain  de- 
i.e.  viicci  ( (1  in  satisfying  all  parties  and  retain 

its  preponderating  influence, 


64 

Yet  these  embarrassing  circumstances  will  be 
sooner  or  later  felt,  either  in  some  great  exter- 
nal exigency,  or  when  the  Union  shall  be  ex- 
posed to  those  domestic  commotions,  from  which 
no  political  society  is  long  exempt;  and  to  which 
federative  republics  are  peculiarly  liable. 

The  late  war  with  England  disclosed  the 
weakness  of  the  ties  by  which  the  different 
parts  of  the  American  confederation  are  united. 
Without  the  unexpected  conclusion  of  an  hon- 
ourable peace,  the  Hartford  Convention,  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  all  the  Eastern  States, 
would  in  all  likelihood,  have  ended  in  effecting 
their  separation  from  the  rest  of  the  Union. 
The  greater  portion  of  the  Americans,  repel 
this  idea  indignantly:  but  since  it  was  founded 
on  a  hypothesis  which  the  events  of  the  war  did 
not  realize,  although  very  possible  and  even 
probable,  it  is  useless  to  discuss  so  idle  a  ques- 
tion. 

Notwithstanding  the  pains  taken  by  the 
Iramers  of  the  American  constitution  to  define 
clearly  the  powers  delegated  to  the  General 
Government,  and  that  which  the  states  have 
respectively  reserved,  the  line  of  demarcation 


65 

between  them  has  always  been  a  theme  of  long 
and  violent  controversy  whenever  a  question 
of  general  interest  is  agitated.  Thus  during  the 
last  war,  the  government  or  the  first  magistrate 
of  Massachusetts,  refused  to  execute  the  order 
of  the  general  government,  to  march  the  militia 
of  that  state  into  Canada. 

The  right  assumed  and  carried  into  execution 
at  different  times  by  the  federal  government 
of  establishing  a  national  bank,  was  also  the  sub- 
ject of  long  discussions  in  congress,  and  was  con- 
tested by  many  states  of  the  union.* 

As  a  third  and  last  example  of  the  vagueness 
of  the  Federal  Constitution,  we  would  cite  the 
virulent  debates  which  occupied  more  than  half 
the  present  session  of  congress,  to  determine 
whether  or  not  that  body  had  a  right,  under  the 
constitution,  to  interdict  slavery  in  the  new 
state  of  Missouri. 

To  that  uncertainty  we  must  look  for  the  fee- 
bleness manifested  by  the  general  government 
in  the  suppression  of  piratical  armaments,  pub- 
licly prepared  in  some  of  the  maritime  cities  of 


•Thia  question  lias  been  finally  decided  by  tlio  supreme 
court  in  fitvour  of  the  general  government 


06 

the  union,  but  principally  in  Baltimore;  and  in 
arresting,  in  its  commencement,  the  audacious 
and  criminal  expedition  of  some  American  ad- 
venturers against  the  province  of  Texas. 

The  federal  government  is  too  clearsighted 
not  to  foresee  the  grievous  consequences  which 
such  violations  of  the  laws  of  nations  may  some 
day  bring  upon  the  country.  And,  the  govern- 
ment is  equally  aware,  that  all  its  efforts  to  res- 
train these  irregularities  will  be  ineffectual,  be- 
cause its  orders,  if  indeed  it  have  the  right  of 
giving  any  orders  on  this  subject,  would  be  elud- 
ed, perhaps  badly  executed  or  entirely  disre- 
garded. 

A  foreigner,  known  generally  in  Europe  by  the 
extent  and  variety  of  his  acquirements,  as  well  as 
by  the  sprightliness  of  his  mind,  Mr.  Correa  de 
Serra,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Portugal  near 
the  United  States,  who  resided  a  long  time  in 
that  country,  and  who  traversed  it  in  every  di- 
rection, maintains  that  the  American  govern- 
ment, to  the  prejudice  of  the  individual  state 
governments,  tends  strongly  to  consolidation. 

He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say,  that  it  contains 
already  all  the  elements  of  a  monarchy,  and 


6? 

only  wants  a  head:  he  therefore  called  it  the 
headless  monarchy.  Notwithstanding  my  res- 
pect for  the  intelligence  of  this  savant,  I  am 
bold  enough  to  entertain  a  contrary  opinion.  It 
appears  to  me,  that  in  proportion  as  the  territo- 
ry of  the  United  States  is  enlarged,  and  as  the 
population,  as  well  as  the  number  of  the  confe- 
derated states,  encreases,  the  general  government 
will  gradually  lose  its  strength. 

However  this  may  be,  there  is  one  truth  well 
established,  and  important  to  be  kept  in  view, 
when  political  relations  are  held  with  the  Unit- 
ed States,  that  is,  that  its  sovereignty  is  incom- 
plete. It  therefore  happens  in  many  cases,  in 
which  the  laws  of  nations  are  interested,  that 
the  American  government  finds  it  impossible  to 
act  on  terms  of  perfect  reciprocity  without  trans- 
cending its  powers. 

This  government  has  hitherto  been  unable  to 
put  an  end  to  the  illegal  armaments  which  have 
been  equipped,  and  are  even  now  fitting  out  at 
Baltimore  and  other  ports  of  the  union,  against 
the  commerce  and  navigation  of  nations  at  peace 
with  the  United  States.     Yet  it  is  true,  that  the 


68 

disposition  of  the  president  and  the  rest  of  his 
cabinet,  is  decidedly  opposed  to  these  shameful 
infractions  of  neutral  rights. 

Whilst  condemning  such  voluntary  aggres- 
sions, the  American  government  is  incompetent 
to  prevent  them  and  especially  to  punish  the 
guilty. 


G9 


CHAP.  VIII. 

The  political  relations  of  the  United  States  with 

Europe. 

Hitherto  the  United  States  have  had  little 
concern  with  European  politics,  except  so  far 
as  their  commerce  and  navigation  were  interest- 
ed. In  every  other  respect,  this  great  federate 
republic  is  absolutely  a  stranger  to  the  political 
combinations  of  Europe. 

This  state  of  things  will  last  as  long  as  the  re- 
lative thinness  of  the  population  and  the  nature 
of  their  government  prohibit  every  energetic  ef- 
fort beyond  the  limits  of  their  country. 

It  is  in  the  essence  of  popular  governments, 
constituted  as  they  are  in  our  time,  to  be  oppos- 
ed to  every  expensive  enterprise;  for  the  great- 
est merit  they  possess  in  the  eyes  of  the  multi- 
tude, is  the  cheapness  of  the  materials,  if  such 
an  exprenoD  may  be  used,  of  which  they  are 
composed. 


70 

Considered  as  a  political  power,  the  United 
States  must  necessarily  be  classed  among  the 
maritime  powers. 

Their  political  sympathies  and  antipathies  in 
regard  to  European  nations,  should  be  measured 
by  the  capableness  of  the  latter  to  injure  their 
commerce  and  navigation. 

England  enjoying  an  incontestible  superiority 
at  sea,  is  for  that  very  reason  the  power  which 
the  United  States  love  least  and  fear  most. 

Notwithstanding  however,  this  species  of  po- 
litical antipathy,  it  is  certain,  that  the  two  coun- 
tries are  bound  together  by  moral  ties  which  no 
political  jealousy  can  sever. 

These  moral  ties  derive  their  strength  from  the 
identity  of  origin,  language,  customs*  and  laws; 
in  a  word,  from  all  circumstances  en  which  are 
founded  the  moral  and  social  existence  of  man. 


^Shortly  after  the  war  of  Independence  a  member  of  con- 
gress, whose  name  escapes  me  at  this  moment,  proposed  to  abol- 
ish the  use  of  the  English  language;  declaring,  that  without 
this  change,  the  emancipation  of  the  United  States,  would  never 
be  complete.  The  project  was  undoubtedly  absurd,  since  it  was 
impracticable.  But  it  is  not  the  less  true,  (to  employ  a  vulgar 
phrase)  that  the  zealous  republican  laid  his  finger  on  the  cause 
which  will  continue  for  a  long  time  to  give  England  a  great 
mora!  influence  over  this  country. 


71 

This  truth  is  admirably  illustrated  in  the  me- 
moirs of  Talleyrand,  on  the  commercial  relations 

of  the  United  States  with  England  and  France, 
read  to  the  National  Institute  in  the  year  1803. 

Hence  it  follows  that  the  English,  although 
they  may  find  there  a  violent  opposition  to  their 
politics,  nevertheless  have  the  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing their  manufactures  preferred  to  those  of  other 
nations. 

Of  all  the  European  powers.  France  can  best 
calculate  on  a  decided  predilection  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States.  It  can  scarcely  be  other- 
wise. Without  taking  into  consideration  the 
important  services  rendered  by  France  to  them 
in  their  war  of  independence,  she  has  it  in  her 
power  to  aid  them  in  their  quarrels  with  Eng- 
land without  being  able,  under  any  circumstan- 
ces, to  inflict  the  slightest  real  injury. 

It  was  probably  from  this  consideration,  that 
the  American  government  manifested  so  clearly 
a  partiality  for  the  French  government,  at  the 
time  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  occasioned  so 
great  Losses  to  tin;  American  commerce:  while 
the   British  orders  in  council  were  incessantly 


72 

the  subject  of  the  most  vehement  invectives 
and  complaints,  and  terminated  in  bringing  on 
the  war  of  1812. 

The  same  reasons,  although  much  less  co- 
gent, apply  to  the  relations  between  Russia  and 
the  United  States  of  America.  It  may  be  said, 
that  the  disposition  of  the  government  and  the 
American  nation  in  regard  to  Russia,  is  generally 
amicable.  The  name  of  the  Emperor  Alexan- 
der is  revered  in  the  United  States.  This  is  ow- 
ing to  the  moderation  with  which  the  imperial 
government  always  treated  the  interests  of  Amer- 
ica, at  a  time  when  they  came  into  collision 
with  those  of  all  the  other  maritime  powers  of 
Europe.  Russia,  formidable  as  she  is,  inspires  no 
fear  in  that  country.  They  even  reckon  on  her 
support  in  any  difficulty  in  which  they  may  be 
hereafter  involved  with  any  European  powers, 
whose  dispositions  are  less  favourable  to  them. 


73 


SECTION  THIRD. 

CHAP.  I. 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE. 

Some  general  reflections  on  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  in  the  United  States,  or  rather  on 
the  spirit  of  their  jurisprudence,  may  perhaps 
prove  interesting  to  Russian  readers,  they  are 
addressed  chiefly  to  these,  for  it  would  certainly 
be  almost  inexcusable  presumption  in  the  au- 
thor, to  attempt  to  instruct  Americans  on  such  a 
subject,  among  whom  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  sin- 
gle individual  who  is  not  tolerably  familiar,  if 
not  with  the  theory,  at  least  with  the  course  of 
justice  in  his  country. 

It  is  generally  agreed,  that  an  impartial  ad- 
ministration of  civil  and  criminal  justice,  is  one 
of  the  principal  foundations  of  all  political  socie- 
ties of  a  permanent  character.  For  the  para- 
mount, and  it  may  be  said,  the  only  object  of  all 
political  associations,  is  the  security  of  person  and 

property. 

10 


74 

But  if  in  strongly   constituted,  or  to  speak 
more  clearly,  in  absolute   monarchies,  an  im- 
partial administration  of  justice,  be  one  of  the 
most  powerful  means  of  prosperity,  in  a  repre- 
sentative government  it  is  an  indispensible  con- 
dition; the  very  corner  stone  of  the  edifice.     In 
absolute  monarchies  it  efficiently  corrects  the  de- 
fects of  political  laws,  and  in  limited  monarch- 
ies or  republics,  the  equitable  administration  of 
the  laws,  as  it  were,  takes  precedence  of  politi- 
cal justice.* 


*  We  are  in  fact,  far  from  asserting  that  justice  is  best  ad- 
ministered in  republics.     Such  an  opinion  would  be  contradict- 
ed by  facts;  a  badly  regulated  spirit  of  liberty,  may  frequently 
incline  the  balance  of  distributive  justice,  with  as  strong  partial- 
ity as  the  hand  of  arbitrary   power.     This  sometimes  occurs 
even  in  the  United  States,  where  opulent  persons  have  lost  their 
cases  because  juries  favoured  the  poorer  class  in  preference  to 
the  rich.     Such  instances  are  undoubtedly  very  rare,  but  it  is  in- 
disputable that  a  sentiment,  of  inveterate  jealousy  of  the  rich, 
among  the  poorer   class,  has  powerfully  influenced  in  many 
states  of  the  union,  the  municipal  laws  which  regulate  the  re- 
lation of  debtor  and  creditor.     For  some  years  past,  the  laws  have 
always  been  favourable  to  the  former,  even  when  right  appeared 
on  the  side  of  the  latter.     This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  the 
effect  of  these  laws  on  the  welfare  of  the  country.     It  will  be 
sufficient  to  say,  that  they   have  sensibly  affected  its  credit. 
The  idea  we  would  convey  is  intended  to  bear  on  the  position. 
that  in  monarchies,  principles  of  distributive  justice  have  not  the 

atne  influence  on  their  political  institutions,  as  in  represents- 


7J 

The  Americans  emphatically  style  their  coun- 
try, "The  haul  of  the  law,"  for  among  them  the 
law,  like  a  superior  power,  covers  the  whole 
country,  protecting  with  its  shield,  or  threaten- 
ing with  its  sword,  all  indiscriminately,  without 
recognizing  any  distinction  between  the  Su- 
preme Magistrate  of  the  republic  and  the  hum- 
blest citizen.  Slaves  are  the  only  persons  to 
whom  its  protection  is  denied.  Yet  important 
ameliorations  of  their  condition  are  daily  taking 
place  in  all  the  states  where  this  unfortunate 
class  exists.  The  new  state  of  Missouri  may 
boast  of  being  the  first  to  soften  the  hardship  of 
slavery,  by  solemn  legislative  enactment.  A 
clause  of  its  constitution  declares  the  murder 
of  a  slave  punishable  in  the  same  manner,  as 
one  committed  on  a  free  person.  This  exam- 
ple has  been  imitated  by  South  Carolina. 

The  Americans  having  inherited  their  lan- 
guage, their  customs,  their  political  opinions  and 

tire  or  <l<  inocratical  governments,  such  as  are  now  established. 
The  example  of  France  under  the  reign  of  Napoleon,  proves 
that  a  fair  administration  of  justice  is  not  always  incompatible 
irith  unlimited  political  power.  But  on  the  other  band  it  may 
be  remarked,  thai  the  preservation  of  just  ideas  of  rational  liber- 
ty since  so  happily  realized  under  Louis  X  V 1 1 1 ,  is  owing  to 
the  judicial  system  of  France. 


76 

even  their  primitive  institutions  from  their  En- 
glish ancestors,  necessarily  adopted  their  sys- 
tem of  jurisprudence.  In  fact,  the  two  modes 
of  administering  justice  are  so  much  alike,  that 
one  seems  to  have  been  copied  from  the  other. 
However,  to  develope  this  affinity,  we  should  be 
obliged  to  enter  into  minute  details,  of  which 
persons  well  versed  in  the  subject  alone  are  com- 
petent to  give  a  satisfactory  account,  and  which 
have  no  room  within  the  limits  of  a  simple  sketch. 
The  dominant  principles  in  the  English  and 
American  systems  of  jurisprudence  are: 

1st.  That  all  men  are  equal  in  the  eye  of  the 
law;  that  is  to  say,  that  it  is  the  same  for  all, 
without  any  distinction  whatsoever,  whether  it 
protects  or  punishes. 

2dly.  That  no  man  can  be  judged  but  by  his 
peers;  that  is  to  say,  his  equals  in  society. 

Here  a  sensible  difference  between  the  two 
judicial  systems  arises  which  it  is  not  useless  to 
notice,  although  it  is  only  apparent,  as  it  has  no 
influence  on  the  course  of  justice.  The  English 
constitution  recognizes  political  inequalities; 
whilst  the  American  constitutions,  taken  collec- 
tively, or  individually,  only  recognize  the  sim- 


77 

pie  difference  of  profession.  An  English  peer 
possesses  certain  political  rights  in  which  other 
citizens  do  not  participate.  Yet  the  law  is  not 
the  less  the  same  for  him,  although  the  forms 
necessary  for  its  application  are  different,  so  far 
as  regards  the  composition  of  the  jury. 

In  America  political  inequalities  have  no  ex- 
istence; so  that  the  law  and  the  forms  of  its 
application  are  the  same  for  all,  in  all  cases. 

The  body  of  civil  and  criminal  law  is  com- 
posed of  the  following  elements. 

1st.  The  common  law*  such  as  it  is  in  Eng- 
land, notwithstanding  the  modifications  flowing 


*Propcrly  speaking,  the  common  law  is  nothing  more  than  a 
collection  of  judicial  decisions  in  isolated  cases.  It  is  consult- 
ed in  all  cases,  not  provided  for  by  the  statute  or  written  law. 
This  is  an  abyss  of  civil  legislation,  but  the  evil  is  in  some 
measure  remedied  by  the  discretion  of  the  judges.  The  com- 
mon law  is  venerated  in  England  because  the  English  believe  it 
to  be  favourable  to  liberty.  In  the  United  States,  where  lib- 
erty has  gained  every  thing  and  has  nothing  to  fear,  public 
opinions  leans  toward  written  civil  codes.  But  they  perhaps, 
scarcely  dream  that  the  enterprise  would  be  far  from  easy  in  so 
extensive  and  diversified  a  country.  Besides,  however  great 
might  be  tin-  wisdom  and  perspicacity  <>f  the  compilers  of  such 
codes.it  would  In-  impossible  to  foresee  the  cases  that  might 
arise,  and  provide  for  the  interpretations  which  the  acuteness  ol 
lawyers  would  place  on  the  meaning  of  the  law.  In  this  way 
commentaries  and  readings  would  enlarge  the  code  to  such  a  A< 


78 

from  the  nature  of  a  government  which  ad- 
raits  of  no  distinction  in  the  orders  of  society, 
nor  of  privileged  classes  which  were  always 
as  unknown  to  these  colonies  as  the  right  of  pri- 
mogeniture. This  last  right,  it  is  true,  exist- 
ed in  Virginia,  Maryland  and  South  Carolina 
previous  to  their  emancipation,  but  was  abolished 
soon  after  the  revolution. 

2d.  Acts  of  the  British  Parliament  antecedent 
to  the  period  of  the  American  Independence. 
The  local  legislatures  of  the  United  States  pos- 
sessed, nevertheless,  the  power  of  modifying  the 
acts  or  statutes  of  the  British  Parliament  as  well 
as  the  common  law,  in  every  case  which  did  not 
involve  internal  commerce  or  the  essential  attri- 
butes of  sovereignty.     The  infringement  of  this 

gree,  that  it  would  participate  in  the  inconvenience  of  the  com-, 
mon  law. 

The  statute  or  written  law  consists  of  legislative  acts.  We 
have  already  seen  that  in  the  United  States,  the  statute  law  is 
composed  of  acts  of  the  English  Parliament,  passed  antecedent 
to  the  revolution,  of  acts  of  congress,  and  lastly  of  legislative 
acts  of  the  different  states  forming  the  confederation.  Conse- 
quently the  statute  law  of  the  United  States  is  derived  from 
two  sources,  one  the  federal  legislation,  the  other  the  same 
legislative  power  reserved  to  themselves  respectively  by 
fhe  several  states  of  the  union.  It  is  important  not  to  lose 
•si^ht  of  these  facts. 


79 

right  by  the  British  Parliament  contributed  ma- 
terially to  the  separation  of  the  English  colo- 
nies from  the  mother  county. 

3d.  Acts  of  the  American  congress  and  of  the 
individual  legislatures  of  the  different  states. 
These  last  mentioned  are  only  obligatory  as 
law,  within  the  circle  of  the  respective  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  state  legislatures. 

4th.  The  civil  and  criminal  codes  of  partic- 
ular states  in  which  they  have  been  compiled. 
In  many  states  of  the  union  there  exists  crim- 
inal codes  made  on  the  spot.  But  it  is  only  in 
Louisiana,  that  we  find  a  bodv  of  laws  embracint'- 
all  the  social  relations  of  the  citizens  among  them- 
selves. 

Their  code  of  laws  is  nothing  but  the  civil 
code  of  Napoleon  adapted  to  their  local  circum- 
stances. This  work  as  important  as  it  is  useful, 
was  executed  by  two  jurisconsults  of*  that  coun- 
try; Mr.  Moreau  Lestel  and  Mr.  James  Brown, 
now  a  senator  in  the  congress  of  the  United 

States,  from  Louisiana. 

4  The  organization  of  tin-  judicial  tribunals  of 
the  United  Slates,  bears  a  great  affinity  t<>  that  of 
the  courts  of  England.     ITet  marked  differences 


80 

may  be  seen  between  them  in  some  of  the  states 
of  the  union;  and  these  differences  without  be- 
ing fundamental,  modify  the  cause  of  justice  in 
civil  litigations. 

In  many  states,  as  in  New- York,  New-Jersey 
and  Virginia,  there  is  a  court  of  chancery  invest- 
ed with  jurisdiction  similar  to  that  of  the  chan- 
cery court  in  England.  In  other  states,  this 
court  assumes  another  form,  or  the  ordinary 
courts  are  clothed  with  a  jurisdiction  usually  be- 
longing to  a  court  of  chancery. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  enter  into  a  detail- 
ed description  of  the  organization  of  the  various 
courts  in  the  different  states  of  the  American 
confederation.  The  design  in  which  it  is  con- 
ceived is  common  to  all;  which  is,  to  secure  to 
every  man  prompt  and  impartial  justice.  The 
latter  object  is  unquestionably  accomplished;  but 
it  would  be  important  to  abridge  the  delays  of 
litigation;  for,  in  regard  to  promptitude,  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether  they  have  been  successful  in 
the  United  States.  Means  to  elude  the  views  of 
legislators  and  protract  the  pendancy  of  suits  be- 
yond a  reasonable  term,  have  always  been  found 
by  the  ingenuity  of  lawyers.    This  particularly 


81 

happens  when  the  plaintiff  in  a  cause  is  a  for- 
eigner, seeking  redress  from  an  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

In  every  ease,  either  civil  or  criminal,  there 
are  but  two  stages  or  degrees  of  judicial  en- 
quiry. A  court  of  original  jurisdiction,  of  which 
there  is  one  at  least  in  each  county,  decides  in  the 
first  instance.  Should  there  be  an  appeal,  the 
judgment  is  reviewed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  of 
which  there  is  one  in  each  state.  The  jurisdic- 
tion of  this  tribunal  in  all  its  litigations  between 
citizens  of  the  same  state,  corresponds  to  that  of 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench  in  England;  and  the 
judges,  during  the  recess,  also  perform  a  circuit 
in  the  district  assigned  to  them  respectively,  with 
this  difference,  that  in  America  the  eldest  or 
Chief  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  is  not  ex- 
empted from  this  duty,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
presiding  judge  of  the  King's  Bench  in  England. 

In  every  suit  which,  under  the  provisions  of 
the  constitution  of  the  Federal  Government,  is 
definitively  adjudicated  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  there  are  properly  three  stages 
of  judicial  investigation.  A  local  court  of  origin- 
11 


82 

al  jurisdiction*  first  tries  the  cause  and  passes 
judgment.  An  appeal,  if  one  be  taken,  is  then 
carried  before  a  Circuit  Court.-f  A  further  ap- 
peal may  be  then  had  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  which  finally  adjudges  the 
cause. $ 

Accord  ins;  to  these  external  forms  observed 
in  the  proceedings  of  all  the  tribunals  of  the 
country,  with  the  exception  of  the  Court  of 
Chancery  or  Equity,  and  the  Supreme  Courts 
which  pass  sentence  without  the  intervention 
of  a  jury,  the  dispensation  of  the  law,  indepen- 
dently of  the  necessary  formality  of  opening 
every  judicial  proceeding,  whether  civil  or  crim- 
inal, is  performed  in  the  following  manner : 


*  Over  this"  court,  commonly  called  the  Circuit  Court  of  the 
United  States,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  District  Court  presides, 
associated  with  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  The  members  of  this  last  tribunal,  without  even 
the  exception  of  the  Chief  Justice,  have  each  their  district  as- 
signed to  them  respectively,  which  they  visit  annually  at  fixed 
periods. 

f  See  note  in  Appendix. 

\  This  Court  likewise  takes  cognizance  of  all  cases  arising 
from  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  strictly  speak- 
ing, or  Acts  of  Congress. 


83 

Lawyers  or  advocates,  on  each  side,  state  the 
case,  argue  upon  the  law,  produce  their  authori- 
ties, and  examine  the  witnesses. 

One  of  the  judges  then  gives  the  jury  a  sum- 
mary of  the  pleadings  on  both  sides.  In  some 
states  they  confine  themselves  to  explaining  to 
the  jury  the  law  that  should  govern  their  deci- 
sion. 

The  jurors  then  retire  to  deliberate  among 
themselves  on  what  verdict  they  shall  find,  which 
verdict,  when  once  found,  is  announced  to  the 
judge  by  one  of  their  own  body,  chosen  by  the 
court  for  that  purpose,  as  the  most  distinguish- 
ed of  them  by  his  character  and  intelligence. 

Finally  the  judge  applies  the  law  and  the  suit 
is  determined. 

All  these  different  formalities  are  performed 
publicly.  The  court  room  is  open  to  every  one 
without  distinction.  This  publicity  in  judicial 
proceedings,  has  perhaps  a  greater  influence  up- 
on the  impartial  distribution  of  justice,  than  the 
institution  of  a  jury  trial. 

In  all  civil  and  criminal  cases,  the  jury  decides 
on  both  the  law  and  the  fact.  In  criminal  pros- 
ecutions, the  power  of  1he  jury  has  no  limits,  but 


84 

it  is  otherwise  in  civil  cases.  On  a  question  of 
law,  the  opinion  of  the  judge  has  usually  great 
weight  with  the  jury;  and  when  their  verdict  is 
contrary  tothe  law,  such  as  it  has  been  expound- 
ed by  the  judge,  he  sets  it  aside  and  recommends 
to  them  to  reconsider  the  case.  Should  the  jury 
prove  obstinate  in  their  opposition,  the  judge  can 
order  a  new  trial  of  the  cause. 

It  is  then  evident,  that  the  agency  of  a  jury  in 
civil  cases  is  less  real  than  apparent,  since  in  a 
majority  of  them  they  are  directed  by  the  supe- 
rior knowledge  and  experience  of  the  judges. 
In  fact,  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  persons,  abso- 
lutely strangers  to  a  profound  knowledge  of  the 
civil  law,  should  be  competent  to  administer  it 
equitably  in  all  cases,  (many  of  which  are  com- 
plicated,) arising  from  disputes  between  the  in- 
habitants of  a  free  and  civilized  country. 

We  should  not  omit  to  mention  the  obliga- 
tion of  serving  in  turn  as  a  juror,  from  which  no 
American  citizen  is  exempt,  under  the  penalty 
of  a  heavy  fine.  This  often  becomes  a  species  of 
burthensome  tax  on  the  time  of  the  industrious 
part  of  the  community. 


85 

Criminal  legislation  having  for  its  object  to 
shield,  against  the  assaults  of  violence  and  mal- 
ice, all  that  is  most  valuable  to  man,  his  life  and 
reputation,  has  invested  its  proceedings  with  ev- 
ery precaution  that  human  foresight  could  sug- 
gest, to  guard  the  accused  against  any  precipitan- 
cy in  the  organs  of  he  law,  and  to  afford  him  at 
the  same  time  the  most  unbounded  means  of 
self-justification.  This  assuredly  is  the  beautiful 
feature  of  American  jurisprudence,  a  jurispru- 
dence which  in  other  respects  resembles  in  its  de- 
tails the  mode  of  criminal  procedure  practised  in 
England. 

The  prevailing  principle  of  the  system  seems 
to  establish  above  all  other  considerations,  that 
it  is  better  for  society  that  ten  criminals  should 
escape  the  rigour  of  the  laws  which  they  may 
have  violated,  than  that  one  innocent  person 
should  be  condemned  to  punishment.  Perhaps 
some  doubts  might  justly  be  entertained  of  this 
maxim,  repeated  to  satiety  by  modern  philan- 
thropy. We  might  possibly  be  nearer  to  the 
truth  in  maintaining  the  converse  proposition; 
for,  the  sum  of  evil  resulting  to  society  in  the  two 
cum  *  i>  evidently  greater  in  the  first  than  in  the 
second.     Meanwhile  we  cannot  but  applaud  a 


86 

system  of  criminal  jurisprudence,  which  evinces 
so  much  solicitude  to  prevent  judicial  error. 

We  should  place  at  the  head  of  the  safeguards 
of  personal  security,  the  justly  celebrated  law  of 
habeas  corpus.  This  law  prevents  arbitrary  and 
protracted  imprisonment,  and  is  exactly  the 
same  in  the  United  States  as  in  England. 

False  accusations  and  illegal  prosecutions  are 
obviated  by  the  institution  of  the  Grand  Jury, 
which  the  Americans  regard  as  the  palladium 
of  their  liberty.  The  Grand  Jury  is  never  com- 
posed of  less  than  thirteen,  nor  more  than  twen- 
ty-three individuals,  although  twenty-four  are 
usually  summoned.  They  are  chosen  by  lot,  at 
the  opening  of  each  session  of  the  criminal  court, 
from  among  active  and  respectable  citizens.  The 
Grand  Jury  examines  the  witnesses  against  ac- 
cused persons,  and  decides,  by  a  majority  of 
votes,  whether  there  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  put- 
ting the  accused  on  trial.  This  examination  is 
made  with  closed  doors,  and  cannot  therefore 
prejudice  the  accused  in  the  formal  trial  which 
he  is  about  to  undergo. 

An  indictment  is  not  found  until  after  the 
Grand  Jury  has  had  sufficient  proof  before  them 


87 

against  him,  and  it  is  then  unly  that  he  can  be 
formally  tried.  In  the  contrary  case,  he  is  dis- 
missed from  all  judicial  prosecution. 

The  Grand  Jury  can  also  take  cognizance  of 
some  general  matters  of  a  local  character,  such  as 
the  state  of  the  prisons,  the  roads,  and  of  partic- 
ular cases  brought  before  them.  The  result  of 
this  enquiry  is  reported  to  a  competent  tribunal, 
and,  in  this  way,  abuses  are  corrected. 

It  appears  that  the  institution  of  the  Grand 
Jury  exists  in  all  the  United  States,  and  that  it 
is  every  where  composed  of  intelligent  and  re- 
spectable citizens,  who  are  considered  as  the  most 
efficient  guardians  of  the  public  safety. 

The  Petit  Jury,  composed  of  twelve  individ- 
uals, chosen  on  the  same  principle  that  governs 
the  selection  of  the  Grand  Jury,  acting  more  di- 
rt ctlv  in  the  distribution  of  both  civil  and  crim- 

■ 

nal  justice,  secures  impartiality  by  a  species  of 
equality  and  reciprocal  sympathy  which  this  in- 
stitution is  thought  to  establish  between  the 
judges  and  the  person  to  be  judged. 

We  have  already  seen,  that  in  all  civil  and 
criminal  cases,  excepting  those  which  are  carried 
before  tin-  courts  (if  chancery  or  the  supremo 


88 

courts  which  ultimately  decide,  the  Petit  Jury 
exercises  the  greatest  power.  It  might  be 
said  that  it  contains  the  very  essence  of  judicial 
power;  yet  we  have  likewise  observed,  that  in 
civil  suits  the  course  of  the  jury  is  greatly  influ- 
enced and  even  controled  by  the  judge. 

Such  is  not  the  case  in  criminal  prosecutions. 
The  duty  of  the  judge  is  restricted  to  making  a 
summary  statement  of  the  case :  the  jury,  em- 
bracing in  their  deliberations  the  law  as  well 
as  the  facts,  pronounces  peremptorily  and  with- 
out appeal  on  the  part  of  the  judge,  on  the  crimi- 
nality of  the  accused,  guilty  or  not  guilty.  In 
the  first  instance,  the  prisoner  suffers  the  penalty 
imposed  by  the  law,  which  is  announced  to  him 
by  the  judge,  provided,  before  the  expiration  of 
a  certain  period  of  time,  the  executive  power, 
invested  with  the  right  of  pardoning,  does  not  ex- 
ercise its  prerogative  in  favor  of  the  criminal, 
either  to  remit  or  commute  the  punishment. 

But  when,  by  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  the  ac- 
cused person  is  declared  not  guilty,  he  is  imme- 
diately set  at  liberty,  without  liability  to  a  re- 
newal of  the  prosecution;  this  conforms  to  one 
of  the  fundamental  principles  of  English  juris- 


S9 

prudence,  that  no  man  can  be  twice  tried  for 
the  same  offence.  In  both  civil  and  criminal 
cases,  the  verdict  of  the  jury  to  be  valid  must  be 
unanimous.  When,  in  the  opinion  of  the  jury, 
the  crime,  although  sufficiently  established,  is 
accompanied  by  circumstances  of  extenuation, 
then  still  declaring  him  guilty,  they  recommend 
him  to  the  mercy  of  the  executive;  and  such 
recommendation  is  always  taken  into  conside- 
ration. 

Independently  of  the  publicity  of  the  proceed- 
ings and  the  intervention  of  a  jurj',  these  two 
powerful  safeguards  of  innocence,  the  slightest 
errors  in  the  judicial  forms,  however  insignifi- 
cant they  may  be  in  themselves,  according  to 
the  spirit  of  American  jurisprudence,  operate  in 
its  favor.  Thus  a  single  fault  of  orthography  or 
misnomer  in  the  indictment,  is  sufficient  to  arrest 
instantly  the  trial  of  a  criminal  cause. 

In  fact,  by  the  criminal  laws  and  forms  of 
procedure  in  use  in  the  United  States,  an  accus- 
ed pertdn  is  so  abundantly  fortified  with  means 
of  defence,  that  he  lias  absolutely  nothing  to  ap- 
prehend  from  the  malice  of  his  accusers,  nor 
from  the  precipitancy  of  his  judges.  We  should 
12 


!)0 

be  even  tempted  to  believe,  that  in  certain  cases, 
the  law  is  too  favourable  to  the  accused,  when 
we  see  how  difficult  it  is  in  the  United  States 
to  bring  an  individual,  charged  with  the  most 
atrocious  crimes  which  have  been  perfectly 
proven,  to  merited  punishment.  This  difficulty 
amounts  to  an  actual  impossibility,  when,  by  ac- 
cident, as  frequently  happens  in  Pennsylvania, 
the  jury  is  composed  of  quakers. 

We  have  yet  to  speak  of  the  independence  of 
the  judges,  which  is  also  considered  as  one  of  the 
principal  requisites  for  an  impartial  administra- 
tion of  justice. 

The  opinion,  that  expounders  of  the  law,  to 
discharge  justly  and  with  dignity  their  impor- 
tant functions,  should  be  placed  in  absolute  in- 
dependence of  all  political  power,  is  pretty  gene- 
ral and  uniform  in  the  United  States. 

In  all  tribunals,  emanating  from  the  authority 
of  the  federal  government,  the  judges  are  ir- 
removeable,  or  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing, 
hold  their  place  during  good  behaviour.  They 
can  only  be  deposed  by  a  formal  accusation 
(impeachment)  made  by  the  house  of  repre- 


91 

sentatives  before  the  senate,  and  sustained  by 
two  thirds  of  the  members  of  that  body. 

These  judges  receive  a  liberal  pecuniary  com- 
pensation, sufficient  to  procure  an  easy  and  ho- 
nourable  livelihood. 

The  same  advantages  are  granted  to  judges 
who  preside  over  tribunals  created  by  the  local 
authorities  of  the  United  States.  Nevertheless 
the  jealous  spirit  of  popular  liberty  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Vermont,  refused  to  invest  their  judg- 
es with  that  independence  which  alone  can  ren- 
der them,  at  the  same  time,  impartial  and  re- 
spectable. They  are  there  badly  paid,  and  hold 
their  office  but  for  one  year. 

A  more  striking  defect  in  this  respect,  exists 
in  the  judicary  system  of  the  state  of  New  York. 
It  is  declared  by  the  constitution  of  that  state, 
that  every  judge  becomes  incapable  of  fulfilling 
his  official  functions,  after  sixty  years  of  age.  In 
England  as  in  other  countries,  the  contrary  opin- 
ion prevails,  that  a  judge  of  sixty  years  of  age, 
is  in  the  full  vigour  of  his  usefulness.  But  the 
legislators  of  the  state  of  New  York  think  dif- 
ferently, without  suspecting  that  they  thereby 


92 

calumniate  the  intellectual  faculties  of  their 
countrymen. 

It  may  be  said  in  general,  that  judges  are  held 
in  great  and  merited  consideration  in  the  United 
States. 

We  could  easily  produce  a  list  of  judges,  as  em- 
inent by  their  virtues  as  by  their  talents,  taken  in- 
differently from  all  the  states  of  the  union.  But 
since  it  is  impossible  to  do  justice  to  each,  it  is 
better  to  omit  them  all. 

The  profession  of  the  law,  is  also  held  in  high 
estimation,  and  excites  a  preponderating  influ- 
ence in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  One  sin- 
gle fact  will  serve  to  remove  all  doubt  on  the 
subject.  Of  the  forty-eight  members  now  com- 
posing the  senate  of  the  United  States,  thirty- 
six  are  lawyers  by  profession. 

The  same  considerations  of  prudence,  which 
did  not  permit  the  author  to  speak  of  the  judges 
individually,  prohibit  the  mention  of  the  most 
distinguished  lawyers  of  the  country;  and  this 
involuntary  silence  is  preserved  the  more  reluc- 
tantly, as  he  is  happy  enough  to  count  among  them 
some  tried  friends. 


H.-J 


CHAP.  II. 


PENITENTIARIES. 


A  sketch  of  this  branch  of  the  criminal  juris- 
prudence of  the  United  States  of  America,  will 
complete  what  we  proposed  to  say  concerning 
the  penal  legislation  of  that  country.  The  great 
popularity  of  the  Penitentiary  system  among  en- 
lightened Americans,  and  the  brilliant  results 
anticipated  from  it  in  the  beginning  of  the  ex- 
periment, but  which  experience  has  so  badly  jus- 
tified, have  induced  the  author  to  devote  a  sepa- 
rate article  to  the  subject. 

The  philanthropic  sentiments  prevailing  in 
Europe,  and  of  which  the  writings  of  Beccaria 
and  Howard  were  but  the  first  expression,  found 
public  opinion  in  the  United  States  not  only  wil- 
ling to  receive,  them,  but  to  make  an  experiment 
of  every  suggestion  which  these  celebrated  de- 


94 

fenders  of  suffering  humanity  had  advanced, 
either  for  the  improvement  of  criminal  jurispru- 
dence, or  for  the  reform  of  prisons. 

This  spirit  of  benevolence  soon  manifested  it- 
self in  the  United  States,  by  innumerable  publi- 
cations, recommending,  in  pathetic  terms,  the 
abolition  of  capital  punishment,  except  in  cases 
of  extraordinary  atrocity. 

In  all,  it  was  assumed  as  an  admitted  princi- 
ple, and  consequently  indisputable,  that  the  chief 
tendency  of  a  law  ought  to  be  to  prevent  and 
not  to  punish  crime.  To  this  general  proposi- 
tion, the  evidence  of  the  correctness  of  which  is 
perhaps  not  sufficiently  demonstrated,  the  scru- 
ples of  conscience  of  some  religious  sects,  and 
more  especially  thequakers,  soon  added  another, 
more  general  and  important  in  its  character.  It 
aimed  at  contesting  the  right  of  capital  punish- 
ment altogether.  To  the  Creator  alone,  said 
they,  does  it  belong  to  dispose  of  the  life  of  man, 
as  his  proper  work. 

Such  sentiments  meeting  with  scarcely  any 
opposition,  the  punishment  of  death,  except  in 
cases  of  premeditated  murder,  was  abolished 
successively  in  all  the  states  of  the  union. 


95 

It  is  doutbiul,  whether  this  triumph  of  phil- 
anthropy served  to  diminish  the  number  of  crimes 
superinducing  capital  punishment.  However, 
it  is  certain  that  the  number  of  prisoners,  with- 
out reference  to  their  particular  crimes,  always 
increased,  notwithstanding  the  mildness  of  their 
criminal  laws,  and  the  deep  sentiment  of  human- 
ity with  which  they  are  administered  in  the 
American  courts  of  justice. 

Without  pausing  here  to  examine  the  causes 
of  this  moral  phenomenon,  causes  difficult  to  de- 
signate with  precision,  and  which  it  is  better  to 
leave  to  the  research  of  American  philanthro- 
pists, the  author  cannot  refrain  from  apprising 
the  reader,  that  nothing  is  further  from  his  mind 
than  the  idea  of  attributing  the  augmentation  of 
crimes  in  the  United  States,  to  the  greater  leni- 
ency of  their  criminal  jurisprudence.  In  his 
opinion,  this  melancholy  result  is  owing,  in  a 
great  measure,  to  the  extreme  facility  with  which 
either  pardon  or  commutation  of  punishment  is 
obtained;  a  facility  which  deprives  penal  laws  of 
that  salutary  terror,  without  which,  they  are  no 
better  than  a  dead  letter. 


96 

The  increase  of  crime,  and  consequently  the 
number  of  persons  confined  in  the  public  prisons, 
ultimately  attracted  attention  throughout  the 
United  States.  They  imagined  they  had  detect- 
ed the  cause  in  the  faulty  organization  of  the  in- 
ternal police  of  their  public  prisons,  and  have  ever 
since  been  engaged  in  endeavouring  to  remedy 
the  defect. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  Penitentiaries  in 
America,  in  1790.  The  state  of  Pennsylvania 
was  the  first  to  introduce  them,  and  the  rest  of 
the  states  of  the  union  soon  followed  her  exam- 
ple. The  quakers  exerted  their  activity  and 
influence  with  equal  zeal  and  success,  to  place 
these  establishments  on  their  present  footing. 
According  to  this  new  plan,  Penitentiaries  were 
to  have  a  double  object — to  punish  crime  and 
reform  the  criminal.  On  one  hand,  they  sought 
to  rid  society,  without  effecting  a  great  diminu- 
tion in  the  labour  required  by  its  wants,  of  every 
individual  who  had  transgressed  the  civil  or  crim- 
inal law.  On  the  other,  they  wished  the  crimi- 
nals, condemned  to  a  longer  or  shorter  confine- 
ment in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  their  offences, 
in  expiating  them  by  the  temporary  loss  of  their 


97 

liberty,  to  contribute,  by  the  product  of  their 
labour,  both  to  the  reimbursement  of  the  expen- 
ses of  their  imprisonment  and  the  accumulation 
of  the  means  of  an  honest  livelihood,  to  be  given 
them  at  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  their  pun- 
ishment. 

The  humanity  of  these  reformers  of  prisons, 
had  scrupulously  provided  for  all  the  real  wants 
of  the  prisoners  with  a  profusion  of  charity, 
that  has  since  proved  one  cause  of  the  ill  suc- 
cess of  this  philanthropic  enterprize:  for  it  is  no- 
torious, that  the  daily  support  of  convicts  in  the 
principal  penitentiaries  of  the  United  States,  al- 
ways was,  and  is  to  this  moment,  superior  to  that 
which  the  greater  part  of  the  honest  mechanics 
of  the  country  can  procure  by  their  labour. 

Solitary  confinement,  as  the  last  degree  of  se- 
verity, and  which,  in  many  cases,  was  to  super- 
& de  capital  punishment,  was  at  different  periods 
inflicted  on  prisoners  whose  crimes  were  not  of 
a  very  heinous  description,  but  whose  conduct 
was  indocile  and  turbulent. 

By  these  united  expedients,  they  flattered 
themselves  that  the  double  end  of  these  new 
kind  of  prisons  could  be  accomplished;  that  is  to 
13 


98 

say — the  punishment  of  crime,  and  by  the  re- 
form of  the  criminal,  the  prevention  of  its  recur- 
rence. 

A  third  advantage  promised  by  this  system, 
was  its  economy.  In  fact,  the  idea  of  having 
prisons,  the  expenses  of  which  would  be  defray- 
ed by  the  labour  of  the  prisoners  themselves, 
and  without  cost  to  the  state,  was  the  more  se- 
ducing as  it  was  connected  with  hopes  of  a  high- 
er kind  of  usefulness,  which  had  public  morality 
for  its  object.  The  first  effects  of  this  system  of 
imprisonment  appeared  to  confirm  the  hypothe- 
ses on  which  it  was  founded.  Penitentiaries  as- 
sumed the  appearance  of  spacious  work-shops, 
from  which  issued  every  kind  of  workmanship, 
of  the  most  perfect  execution. 

But  when,  at  the  end  of  some  years,  they  be- 
held the  number  of  prisoners  augment,  and  the 
expenses  of  these  establishments  more  and  more 
exceed  the  receipts — when  they  discovered 
among  the  prisoners,  persons  who  had  before 
undergone  the  same  punishment,  a  suspicion 
arose  that  there  was  some  error  in  the  course 
until  then  pursued  in  regard  to  them. 


99 

Without  accumulating  facts  in  support  of  this 
assertion,  we  will  confine  ourselves  to  extracts 
from  the  official  report  of  the  inspectors  of  the 
penitentiary  in  Philadelphia,  for  the  year  1819. 
Towards  the  end  of  that  year,  it  contained  four 
hundred  and  sixteen  prisoners.  Of  this  number, 
seventy-three  had  been  twice  imprisoned  in  that 
institution;  twenty-five  three  times,  seven  four 
times,  and  two  five  times.  The  same  result  oc- 
curred in  other  States  which  had  adopted  the 
penal  system  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  insurrection  of  the  prisoners  in  the  differ- 
ent penitentiaries,  but  more  especially  the  insur- 
rection of  1820  in  Pennsylvania,  dissipated  the 
illusion  of  the  public.  It  is  now  agreed  in 
the  United  States,  that  the  experiment  has  com- 
pletely failed,  and  that  important  modifications 
are  indispensably  necessary  in  the  organization 
of  penitentiaries. 

Among  the  causes  which  have  brought  about 
Oiis  sad  result,  the  following  are  generally  admit- 
ted. 

1st.  The  want  of  a  proper  classification  of 
the  prisoners, 


100 

Hundreds  of  prisoners,  shut  up  in  the  same 
prison,  although  for  crimes  infinitely  various  in 
their  character  and  enormity,  are  employed  in 
different  species  of  labour,  hut  are  crowded  pro- 
miscuously in  the  same  place.  At;  night  thirty 
or  forty  sleep  in  one  room.  . . >v 

In  consequence  of  such  an  arrangement,  the 
discipline  of  penitentiaries,  far  from  awakening 
in  the  minds  of  the  convict^  a  disposition  to  re- 
pent, on  the  contrary  corifi&ms  them  in  their  vi- 
cious habits.  Hardened  malefactors  teach  the 
novices  crime,  and  in  this  way  a  prison,  intended 
to  reform  its  tenants,  becomes  by  their  intercourse, 
a  Lancastrian  school  for  mutual  instructions 
in  vice. 

It  is  however  just  to  remark,  that  this  want  of 
classification  of  the  criminals  is  almost  irreme- 
diable, unless  you  consent  to  allow  a  very  large 
space  for  this  institution  and  consequently  very 
expensive  dimensions  to  the  buildings. 

2dly.  The  facility  with  which  criminals  con- 
demned to  a  long  confinement,  obtain  either  the 
remission  or  commutation  of  their  punishment. 

That  this  cause  really  prevails,  and  that  it  is 
pernicious  in  its  influence  on  public  morals,  is  so 


101 

notorious  and  well  established  a  fact,  that  no  en- 
lightened  American  would  surely  deny  its  exist- 
ence. 

Among  the  political  rights  reserved  by  the  se- 
veral States  of  the  union  to  themselves,  is  that 
of  pardoning.  This  beautiful  prerogative  of  ex- 
ecutive power  is  exercised,  not  only  by  the  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  but  also  by  twenty- 
four  governors  or  chief  magistrates,  each  within 
the  limits  of  the  territorry  of  his  own  state.  And 
it  wTill  not  appear  astonishing  that  they  grant 
it  with  so  much  readiness,  when  it  is  known, 
that  there  are  some  governors,  like  the  governor 
of  Ohio,  whose  whole  executive  authority  is  com- 
prised in  the  power  of  pardoning. 

3d.  The  luxury  of  charity,  if  ive  may  be  allow- 
ed the  expression,  with  which  they  usually  pro- 
vide for  the  subsistence  of  prisoners. 

This  fact  is  likewise  beyond  all  contradiction: 
and  the  author  of  this  article  has  had,  upon  more 
than  one  occasion,  an  opportunity  of  convincing 
himself  of  it,  by  the  testimony  of  his  own  eyes. 
Such  mistaken  philanthropy  essentially  contrib- 
utes to  divest  punishment  of  its  efficacious  terrors. 


102 

However,  they  begin  to  retrench  this  prodigali- 
ty, and  to  discover,  that  a  prison  ought  never  to 
be  a  house  of  comfort,  but  of  affliction  and  pen- 
itence, and  that,  in  regard  to  the  prisoner,  jus- 
tice should  never  furnish  him  with  superfluities, 
but  be  contented  with  simply  sparing  him  use- 
less privations. 


SECTION  FOURTH. 


STATE  OF  SOCIETY. 


In  order  to  form  an  idea  of  the  present  state  of 
society  in  the  United  States,  it  is  necessary  to 
premise  that  it  is  the  result  of  civilization,  as 
ancient  as  that  of  England,  but  applied  to  a 
country  comparatively  very  new.  The  effect 
must  consequently  be  very  different  from  that 
which  we  behold  in  the  old  states  of  Europe, 
where,  to  use  such  a  phrase,  civilization  has  fol- 
lowed, and  not  as  in  the  United  States,  preceded 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  The  history  of  the  first 
colonization  of  North  America  is  well  known. 
We  are  apprised  that  the  founders  of  the  colo- 
ny at  New  Plymouth,  in  Massachusetts,  which 
was  commenced  in  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  were  men  who  had  left  tin  ii 
own  country  to  evade  the  religious  and  political 


104 

persecution  to  which  they  were  exposed  in 
England.    These,  in  point  of  civilization,  were 
on  a  level  with  society  as  it  existed  at  that  peri- 
od in  Europe.    The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
followers  of  William  Penn,  who  peacefully  set- 
tled themselves  in  Pennsylvania,  about  the  year 
1682.    And,  although  the  founders  of  a  colony 
on  the  shores  of  Virginia,  established  a  few  years 
before  those  of  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania  and 
Maryland,  were,  in  their  origin,  an  assemblage 
of  adventurers  eager  to  acquire  riches,  rather 
than  an  association  of  peaceful  and  industrious 
persons,  it  is  not  the  less  true,  that  they  enjoyed 
a  degree  of  civilization  proportionate  to  the  re- 
spective trades  and  professions  which  they  fol- 
lowed in  their  native  land;  and  in  a  degree  already 
sufficient  to  render  them  much  superior  to  the 
aboriginal  inhabitants  of  this  vast  continent.    It 
is  assuredly  to  civilization,  that  we  must  attri- 
bute, not  only  the  vigorous  resistance  which 
they  made  against  the  attacks  of  the  natives  of 
the  soil,  who  were  much  more  numerous  and 
warlike  than  the  colonists  themselves;  but  also 
their  rapid  and  constant  progress  in  the  improve- 


105 

ment  of  their  mode  of  life,  the  final  result  of 
which  has  been  the  political  existence  of  the 
United  States  of  America. 

"Knowledge"  says  Bacon,  "is power"  This 
maxim  has  never  perhaps  been  better  demon- 
strated than  by  the  history  of  the  colonization 
of  North  America;  an  enterprise  the  more  re- 
markable, as  it  is  owing  to  the  courage  and  ef- 
forts of  a  few  individuals,  and  not,  like  the  con- 
quest of  Mexico  and  Peru,  to  the  immense  re- 
sources of  the  most  powerful  monarchy  of  its 
lime. 

In  proportion  as  the  colonists,  opposed  in  the 
commencement  by  local  difficulties,  acquired 
consistency,  their  relations  with  England  be- 
came more  and  more  important.  The  identity 
of  manners,  and  above  all,  of  language,  enabled 
them  to  follow,  at  a  certain  distance,  the  mother 
country  in  her  career  of  civilization.  This 
double  identity  at  least  prevented  them  from  re- 
lapsing into  ignorance.  The  presses  and  work- 
shops of  England,  laboured  alike  for  the  colonies 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  three  kingdoms.  The 
fruits  of  all  discoveries  in  the  sciences,  arts  and 
trades,  were  immediately  transmitted  to  the  col- 
14 


10(j 

onists  of  North  America.  It  cannot  be  denied  but 
that  the  intimacy  of  these  relations,  had  an  im- 
portant agency  in  preventing  the  formation  of  a 
national  character;  but  it  is  nevertheless  certain, 
that  this  very  intimacy  of  relation  and  interest, 
contributed  powerfully  to  develop  the  natural 
resources  of  the  country,  and  accelerate  the 
epoch  of  its  political  emancipation. 

These  reflections  appeared  necessary  to  elu- 
cidate the  principal  fact  asserted,  that  the  coun- 
try is  new,  but  its  civilization  is  old;  and  as  it  will 
soon  be  seen,  they  were  not  irrelevant  to  the 
subject  of  which  we  are  about  to  treat. 

By  the  state  of  society,  is  commonly  under- 
stood, the  state  of  manners,  customs,  intelli- 
gence and  mode  of  life  of  the  inhabitants  of  a 
country;  or  in  other  words,  the  aggregate  of 
their  physical  and  moral  existence. 

We  have  already  stated,  that  the  first  Euro- 
pean colonists,  who  sought  an  asylum  on  the 
shores  of  North  America,  belonged  to  a  civilized 
class  of  men.  Their  settlements,  so  feeble  in 
their  origin,  were  not  slow  in  improvement. 
After  having  repelled  the  attacks  of  the  Indians, 
who,  being  the  primitive  possessors  of  the  soil 


107 

could  not  behold  without  alarm,  the  appearance 
of  a  foreign  race  in  their  neighbourhood,  th^ 
colonists  gradually  extended  a  domain,  which 
they  had  either  wrested  from  the  natives  by  main 
force,  or  as  in  the  negotiations  between  them 
and  William  Penn,  obtained  by  amicable  ar- 
rangement. 

The  limits  of  the  colonies  advancing  further 
and  further  towards  the  west,  in  proportion  as 
the  Indians  retired,  at  length  reached  the  base 
of  the  Alleghany  mountains.  This  barrier  was 
soon  surmounted,  and  the  settlements  follow- 
ing closely  the  foot  steps  of  the  retreating  In- 
dians, attained  the  banks  of  the  Mississipi: 
and  in  these  later  times,  after  crossing  this  great 
river,  they  have  travelled  on  to  the  banks 
of  the  Missouri,  and  even  to  the  shores  of  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean. 

So  rapid  an  extension  of  territory  over  a  coun- 
try, until  then  a  stranger  to  every  species  of  cul- 
ture, necessarily  wrought  a  considerable  change 
in  the  manners  of  the  colonists  as  well  as  in  their 
mode  of  life.  Those  among  them  who  prefer- 
red remaining  in  maritime  cities,  which  they  saw 
flourishing  after  having  witnessed  their  founda- 


108 

lion,  retained  the  longest  their  primitive  traits 
of  character.    The  reason  is  simple;  they  lived 
with  persons,  the  greater  part  of  whom,  came 
from  the  same  country,  and  who  professed  the 
same  political  and  religious  opinions.     Migra- 
tion alone  could  operate  on  their  manners  but 
a  slight  change,  which  for  a  long  time,  must  ne- 
cessarily have  been  imperceptible,  because  it 
could  only  arise  from  the  natural  effects  of  a 
new  climate,  and  an  unlimited  democratical  go- 
vernment, substituted  for  the  dominion  of  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy.     Other  colonists,  whom 
the  spirit  of  adventure  and  the  love  of  gain  had 
urged  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  suddenly 
found  themselves  exposed  to  all  the  inconvenien- 
ces of  a  solitary  life  in  the  midst  of  a  wilderness. 
Deprived  of  immediate  neighbourhood,  they 
passed  the  first  years  of  their  removal  in  painful 
and  unwholesome  labour,  at  one  time  felling 
trees  for  the  construction  of  dwellings,  at  another 
breaking  the  unfurrowed  soil,  the  fertility  of 
which  was  counterbalanced  by  febrile  exhala- 
tions, peculiar  to  new  lands,  impregnated  with 
decomposed  vegetable  matter.    Whole  months 
passed  away  without  these  inhabitants  of  the 


109 

forests  seeing  other  human  beings  than  their  fam- 
ilies.    Such  isolation  naturally  hardened  their 
character,  and  imparted  to  their  manners  some- 
thing of  the  savage  nature  by  which  they  were 
surrounded.  When  at  length  population,  allured 
by  the  richness  of  the  soil  increased  around  them, 
and  gave  them  neighbours,  equally  deteriorated 
in  regard  to  civilization;  when  political  and  civil 
laws  began  to  operate  in  the  midst  of  these  grow- 
ing societies,  great  difficulties  were  encountered 
in  their  execution,  from  men  accustomed  to  en- 
joy an  unbounded  independence,  and  to  give  full 
sway  to  their  passions.     Roughness  of  manner 
became  the  greater  among  these  half  civilized 
and  half  savage  men,  as  the  religious  sentiments 
they  might  have  carried  with  them  into  the  for- 
est, gradually,  for  want  of  nourishment,  lost  all 
empire  over  them;  for  it  is  obvious,  that  a  very 
considerable  time  must  have  elapsed,  before  the 
population  of  these  new  countries  could  have  ar- 
rived at  that  degree  of  denseness  in  which  the 
want  of  any  kind  of  worship  whatsoever  is  felt. 
This  observation  is  especially  applicable  to  a 
country,  the  fundamental  laws  of  which  do  not 


110 

allow  any  national  religion,  and  experience  has 
proved,  that  among  the  states  composing  the 
American  union,  it  is  in  those  of  more  recent 
existence,  that  the  elections  are  most  tumultu- 
ous, party  spirit  most  virulent,  and  individual 
contests  most  bloody. 

To  find  the  class  of  men  whom  we  have  just 
pourtrayed,  we  must  unquestionably  traverse  the 
United  States  in  its  whole  breadth  from  east  to 
west,  and  reach  the  borders  of  the  Missouri  and 
Arkansaw.  Every  where  civilization  is  seen 
rapidly  advancing  towards  perfection.  But  it  is 
not  less  true,  that  to  this  hour,  there  are  in  some 
parts  of  the  country,  men  who  are  savage  in 
their  manners  and  mode  of  life,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  civilized  in  regard  to  industry  and  a  know- 
ledge of  the  mechanic  arts.  These,  who  have 
been  ingeniously  denominated  pioneers  of  civili- 
zation, are  the  origin  of  the  population  of  the 
numerous  states  on  the  borders  of  the  Ohio,  the 
Mississippi,  the  Indiana  and  the  Illinois  rivers. 

To  a  traveller,  however  little  accustomed  to 
observe  what  is  passing  around  him,  the  interior 
of  the  United  States  offers  undeniably  a  most  in- 
teresting spectacle.    On  leaving  the  maritime 


Ill 

cities,  where  all  the  conveniences  of  life  have  been 
carried  to  a  high  degree  of  refinement,  he  sees  them 
insensibly  diminish,  and  civilization  grow  fainter 
and  fainter,  in  proportion  as  he  advances  westward . 

After  having  left  splendid  and  prosperous 
cities,  and  travelled  for  some  time,  he  arrives  at 
regions  where  the  footsteps  of  the  first  civi- 
lized settlers  (if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expres- 
soin)  are  yet  imprinted  on  the  soil.  At  length 
he  finds  himself  in  the  depths  of  forests,  until  then 
visited  only  by  Indian  hunters,  and  among  whom, 
at  long  intervals  of  space,  he  here  and  there  re- 
cognizes colonists,  but  lately  arrived  with  their 
families,  who  have  no  other  dwellings  than  their 
wagons,  and  scarcely  any  other  food  than  the 
salt  provisions  they  brought  with  them. — 
Thus,  in  travelling  through  the  interior  of  the 
United  Slates,  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  you 
may  ascend  and  descend  the  scale  of  civilization. 

The  English  character  may  be  distinctly  seen 
in  all  the  customs  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  coun- 
try. The  construction  of  their  houses,  their 
dress,  food,  and  even  amusements  are  the  same 
as  in  England, excepting  those  stronger  or  weak- 
er shades  of  difference,  which  local  circumstan 


112 

CCS  and  the  nature  of  a  government  purely  de- 
mocratical,  necessarily  impress  on  the  character 
and  habits  of  the  North  Americans.  To  these 
natural  affinities,  we  may  add  the  identity  of 
language,  the  influence  of  which  is  more  felt 
than  that  of  any  other;  and  we  may  then  easily 
understand,  how  the  moral  sympathies  prevail 
over  the  political  antipathies  which  exist,  in  a 
signal  degree,  between  England  and  the  United 
States.  England  is  not  generally  beloved  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States;  yet  the  English  are 
better  received  than  any  other  foreigners,  espe- 
cially when  they  bring  with  them  the  air  and 
manner  which  characterize  a  good  education. 
Among  the  shades  of  difference  between  the 
English  and  American  manners,  the  first  which 
strikes  the  eye  is  a  comparative  want  of  cleanli- 
ness in  the  latter.  This  deficiency  arises  from 
various  local  causes. 

In  the  northern,  middle  and  western  states, 
where  the  influence  of  slavery  is  but  faintly 
visible,  the  dearness  of  every  species  of  labour 
affecting  all  domestic  services,  renders  them 
sometimes  insufficient  for  the  maintainance  of 
great  cleanliness  in  the  interior  of  the  houses. 


113 

Wherever  the  law  sanctions  or  even  tolerates 
slavery,  uncleanliness  is  in  some  measure  incur- 
able, because  it  is  the  inevitable  result  of  that  so- 
cial disease.  What  traveller  in  passing  through 
the  American  colonies,  has  not  felt  surprised  at 
the  difference,  in  point  of  cleanliness,  between 
those  states  in  which  slavery  exists,  and  those  in 
which  it  is  abolished.  It  might  be  said  that  in 
the  former,  the  blacks  who  execute  all  domes^ 
tic  services,  communicate  their  colour  to  every 
thing  they  touch. 

However,  it  is  proper  to  observe,  that  the  pre- 
ceding remarks  apply  particularly  to  inns,  tav- 
erns and  other  public  places  which  are  mo«t  apt 
to  attract  the  notice  of  a  traveller.  For  the  nous- 
es of  the  better  classes  of  society,  not  only  in 
the  maritime  cities,  but  also  in  the  interior  of  the 
country,  exhibit  a  degree  of  cleanliness  which 
scarcely  haves  any  thing  to  be  desired. 

In  the  eastern  and  in  some  parts  of  the  mid- 
dle states,  even  the  labouring  classes  are  so  re- 
markable for  their  cleanliness,  that  we  should 
seek  in  vain  for  the  same  degree  in  more  than 
one  country  of  Europe. 
15 


114 

The  daily  dress  of  the  Americans  differs  also 
from  that  of  the  English  in  being  less  neat.  The 
Americans  are  too  much  occupied  with  their 
business,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  dearness 
of  labour  and  the  value  of  time,  would  be  de- 
ranged by  neglect,  to  permit  them  to  devote  the 
same  degree  of  attention  to  the  toilet  as  is  cus- 
tomary in  England. 

It  is  for  the  same  reason  that  they  do  every- 
thing in  a  hurry,  even  to  eating  their  meals, 
which,  under  different  names,  they  take  four 
times  a  day.  When  Sunday  comes  to  suspend 
the  general  bustle,  the  streets  of  the  large  cities 
and  public  places,  are  filled  with  loungers,  who 
pass  their  time  in  gazing  at  passengers,  to  whom 
they  invariably  communicate  the  ennui  with 
which  they  themselves  are  oppressed. 

The  rudiments  of  knowledge  being  very  gen= 
erally  diffused  throughout  the  United  States,  it 
is  not  usual  to  meet,  even  in  the  labouring  class, 
with  persons  who  are  ignorant  of  reading,  writ- 
ing and  arithmetic.  English  travellers  ac- 
knowledge that  their  language,  as  it  is  spoken  by 
the  generality  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States,  is  purer  and  more  correct  than  in  the 


115 

mother  country,  where  each  province,  or  in  oth- 
er words  county,  differs  from  the  rest  by  its  pe- 
culiar dialect.  But  if  after  having  made  this 
concession,  we  proceed  to  the  examination  of 
the  state  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  at  the  first 
glance  we  discover,  that  as  regards  them,  the 
country  is  still  far  behind  Europe. 

The  price  of  labour  and  time  concur  in  pro- 
ducing such  a  result.  This  assertion  requires 
explanation.  We  know  that  the  population  of 
the  United  States,  since  the  period  of  their  inde- 
pendence, has  constantly  increased  in  a  propor- 
tion almost  unexampled.  But  the  extension  of 
their  territory  has  advanced  in  a  still  more  rapid 
progression;  to  be  convinced  of  which,  it  is  on- 
ly necessary  to  consult  the  map  of  the  United 
States,  such  as  they  were  in  1783,  and  after- 
wards that  which  has  just  been  published  for 
the  use  of  schools.  The  first  effect  of  so  vast 
an  accession  of  territory,  has  been  the  dispersion 
of  a  number  of  men  over  an  immense  surface. 

A  considerable  amount  of  capital  of  course  took 
the  same  direction,  and  its  accumulation  in  the 
?reat  maritime  cities  was  retarded. 


lib 

1  am  far  from  wishing  to  deny,  that  the  em- 
ployment of  capital  in  clearing  new  lands,  might 
be,  after  all,  most  favourable  to  the  future  pros- 
perity of  the  country;  but  on  the  other  hand  it 
must  be  admitted,  that  such  a  state  of  things  can 
but  little  promote  the  cultivation  of  letters,  the 
fine  arts,  and  all  the  other  branches  of  learning 
which  constitute  the  intellectual  domain  of  man. 
This  degree  of  civilization  requires  a  class  of 
individuals  who  possess  leisure  and  means  of 
subsistence  independently  of  labour;  and  it  is  ev- 
ident that  such  a  class  of  persons  must  be  very 
small,  (not  to  say  that  it  has  no  existence)  in  a 
country,  where  agricultural  industry,  as  is  the 
case  at  this  moment,  engages  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  general  population. 

The  civil  legislatures  of  all  the  states  of  the 
union  disown  the  rights  of  primogeniture  and 
all  species  of  estates  tail.*  To  proscribe  such  in- 
stitutions in  a  new  country,  immense  in  its  ex- 
tent, and  democratically  constituted,  is  undoubt- 
edly wise;  but  it  is  incontestible,  that  the  con- 
tinual subdivision  of  estates  and  their  constant  • 


*  See  note  K. 


117 

dispersion  over  a  vast  and  thinly  populated  territo- 
ry, must,  by  the  difficulties  attendant  on  them,  op- 
erate prejudicially  on  learned  institutions,  when- 
ever a  permanent  revenue  is  to  be  raised  for  their 
maintenance. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  an  act  of  justice  which  can- 
not be  refused  to  the  various  governments  of  the 
American  confederation,  to  declare,  that  in  eve- 
ry thing  that  concerns  the  progress  of  knowledge, 
they  manifest  an  emulation  which  cannot  be  too 
highly  praised.  The  North  Americans,  so  divided 
among  themselves  in  their  political  opinions,  all 
concur  in  the  necessity  of  encouraging  public 
education,  as  one  of  the  most  powerful  supports 
of  a  republican  government.  In  all  the  states 
of  the  union,  public  lands  have  been  appropriat- 
ed to  the  support  of  public  schools,*  and  wher- 
ever population  and  its  moral  wants  have  shown 
a  necessity  for  a  higher  species  of  instruction, 
as  in  the  eastern  and  middle  states,  public  reve- 
nue lias  been  brought  to  the  assistance  of  the  es- 
tablishment  of  colleges  and  universities,  in  which 
education  embraces  all  the  branches  of  human 
knowledge. 

See  note  I' 


118 

Among  the  latter,  the  university  of  Cain 
bridge  in  Massachusetts,  Hartford  and  Yale  in 
Connecticut,  the  universities  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  are  justly  entitled  to  the  first  rank 
by  the  celebrity  of  their  professors,  and  the 
number  of  young  men  whom  they  have  sent 
forth  with  an  education  as  extensive  as  solid. 

The  number  of  colleges  is  much  greater — 
each  state  possesses  at  least  one,  many  two, 
or  even  more.  As  to  the  elementary  schools, 
they  are  scattered  over  the  whole  surface  of  the 
United  States;  and  in  traversing  the  western  states, 
it  is  not  unusual  to  meet  with  huts,  where,  for 
want  of  a  better  place,  the  children  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, are  instructed  in  the  first  rudiments  of 
science. 

A  high  degree  of  intellectual  cultivation  ex- 
ists, among  their  distinguished  lawyers,  physi- 
cians, ecclesiastics  and  merchants.  It  has  given 
the  first  a  preponderating  influence  in  the  con- 
duct of  public  affairs;  and  it  may  be  asserted, 
without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  lawyers;  a  consequence  natural 
enough,  and  which  could  scarcely  be  otherwise 


119 

in  a  country  where  a  talent  for  public  speaking; 
is  incessantly  in  demand. 

In  those  states  of  the  union,  in  which  negro 
slavery  is  sanctioned  by  law,  and  where  conse- 
quently all  labour  is  performed  by  that  hetero- 
geneous race,  we  frequently  find,  among  the  op- 
ulent planters,  men  accomplished  in  education 
and  manners.  We  can  account  for  this  circum- 
stance by  remarking,  that  these  planters,  reliev- 
ed by  their  slaves  from  all  the  grosser  details  ot 
rural  and  domestic  economy,  have  more  leisure 
to  devote  to  the  study  of  the  useful  and  orna- 
mental sciences,  than  citizens  of  states  in  which 
slavery  does  not  exist.  Besides,  they  associate 
among  themselves  exclusively,  entirely  separate 
from  the  negroes,  who,  from  this  very  fact,  are 
assimilated  to  other  domestic  animals;  although 
in  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  some  other 
states,  the  proportion  of  blacks  amounts  to  one 
half  of  the  population,  and  in  Louisiana  to  even 
more.  In  this  way,  the  rich  living  among  them- 
m  hi  >.  reciprocally  improve  each  other  in  civili- 
zation; whilst  elsewhere  the  whole  population, 
or  at  least  the  great  majority  of  it,  being  com- 
posed of  free  citizens,  the  relations  between  the 


12U 

rich  and  poor  are  materially  modified  by  a  spirit 
of  equality,  and  the  continual  tendency  of  proper- 
ty to  subdivision.  If  this  tendency  exist  like- 
wise in  states  tolerating  slavery,  at  least  proper- 
ty is  retained  in  the  same  class;  whilst  elsewhere 
it  is  distributed  throughout  all  ranks  of  society. 
But  this  advantage  enjoyed  by  the  southern  plant- 
ers, is  almost  counterbalanced  by  the  moral  in- 
fluence of  slavery  over  those  who  profit  by  it. 
It  has  been  asserted  in  congress,  that  slavery 
is  favourable  to  liberty  in  a  republic,  by  the 
striking  contrast  it  constantly  offers  to  the  view 
of  free  citizens.  Thus,  said  they,  the  degradation 
of  the  Helots  fostered  the  enthusiastic  love  of  lib- 
erty which  formerly  distinguished  the  Spartans. 
Such  reasoning  is  more  specious  than  just. 
The  human  race  is  endowed  with  moral  and 
physical  faculties  which  are  weakened  and  de- 
stroyed by  the  want  of  proper  application  and 
regular  exercise.  For,  when  to  satisfy  the  wants 
and  humours  of  one  class  of  men,  it  is  only  re- 
quisite to  perform  a  simple  act  of  volition  on 
the  physical  activity  of  another,  it  is  certain  that 
the  former  will  more  and  more  be  attached  to 
their  own  personal  ease:  at  the  same  time  it  is 


121 

not  less  true  that  from  time  to  time,  they  will 
contract  habits  of  indolence  and  effeminacy, 
which  will  exert  a  pernicious  influence  on  their 
moral  and  physical  faculties. 

This  effect,  this  influence  is  perceptible    in 
all  the  states  in  which  slavery  obtains.     And 

m 

if,  among  the  members  of  congress  a  considera- 
ble number  of  those  who  represent  the  southern 
states  are  distinguished  by  a  very  great  fluency 
of  speech,  and  a  certain  elegance  of  manners, 
yet  force  of  argument  and  extent  of  view,  have 
more  frequently  characterized  the  members 
from  states  in  which  slavery  is  not  allowed.* 

By  a  natural  consequence  of  the  subdivision  of 
property,  constantly  taking  place  in  the  United 


*I  must  confess  that  I  never  could  admire  the  organization  of 
a  republic  like  that  of  Sparta,  (ifindeedit  ever  was  a  republic,) 
where  thirty  thousand  free  citizens,  required  forty  thousand 
slaves  to  perform  the  labours  of  their  domestic  economy.  For 
it  is  a  well  established  historical  fact,  that  the  free  Spartans  did 
not  cultivate  the  earth,  and  that  they  abandoned  to  their  Helots 
the  mechanic  arts  and  trades,  such  as  they  were  in  those  barbarous 
times.  And  what  did  those  devoted  champions  of  liberty  achieve? 
Incessantly  engaged  in  murder  and  pillage,  they  waged  a  dead- 
ly war  against  their  neighbours  whom  they  rendered  to  sla- 
very, after  having  ravaged  their  lands  and  destroyed  their  dwell- 
ings. 

16 


122 

States,  there  are  now  but  very  few  hereditary 
estates,  although  we  frequently  meet  with  very 
considerable  acquired  fortunes.  This  will  be  the 
case,  as  long  as  the  population  continues,  as  at 
present,  to  bear  so  great  a  disproportion  to  the 
extent  of  ground  it  occupies;  and  this  want  of  he- 
reditary fortunes,  can  be  perhaps  attributed  to 
no  other  cause,  than  the  absence  of  a  class  of 
men,  so  common  in  Europe,  called  men  of  leis- 
ure.* Too  large  a  class  of  this  description,  would 
undoubtedly  be  inconvenient,  but  as  long  as  it 
remains  within  proper  bounds,  it  can  scarcely 
be  otherwise  than  very  useful,  were  it  only  by 
the  encouragement  it  affords  to  the  sciences  and 
fine  arts,  and  to  other  liberal  pursuits  which 
tend  to  polish  the  manners  and  invest  them  with 
external  grace.  It  is  only  among  the  planters  of 
the  south,  that  we  find  persons  of  sufficient  lei- 
sure to  be  able  to  devote  themselves  to  occupa- 
tions of  their  own  choice.  But  this  advantage 
is  counterbalanced  by  the  insalubrity  of  the 
climate,  which  compels  the  more  opulent  to  tem- 
porary migration  in  the  summer  season;  from 
which  fact  it  happens,  that  their  leisure  is  pass- 

•   See  Appendix 


123 

ed  in  journies.  without  any  permanent  advan- 
tage to  polite  literature. 

The  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  mar- 
itime towns,  employ  themselves  wholly  in  their 
private  business,  with,  however,  less  apparent  ac- 
tivity than  in  Europe,  where  labour  is  so  minutely 
subdivided.  Among  those  who  boast  an  accom- 
plished education,  or  whom  nature  has  endowed 
with  intellectual  faculties  of  the  higher  order,  pro- 
found and  varied  knowledge  is  frequently  met 
with.  On  this  head  we  might  cite  some  pro- 
fessors attached  to  different  American  univer- 
sities. But  it  is  very  rare,  if  not  to  say  impossible, 
to  find  in  the  United  States,  savans  or  men  of 
letters,  whose  lives  are  exclusively  devoted  to 
the  cultivation  of  any  particular  branch  of 
science.  Their  labours  wrould  be  compensated 
neither  by  pecuniary  gain  nor  even  reputation; 
for  although  it  is  very  common,  and  even  gen- 
eral in  the  United  States,  to  read  and  write,  the 
ordinary  occupations  of  a  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants of  both  town  and  country,  do  not  al- 
low them  more  leisure  time  than  is  required  to 
run  over  the  gazette;  of  the  day  or  some  literary 
journal.  Sunday  is  occupied  in  reading  pious 
books. 


124 

Independently  of  the  time  allotted  to  labour, 
a  considerable  part  of  the  day  is  consecrated  to 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs. — This  devotion  of 
time  and  industry  is  one  of  the  rigorous  condi- 
tions belonging  to  republican  institutions.  With- 
out pretending  to  decide,  whether  it  be  an  advan- 
tage or  a  disadvantage,  we  shall  merely  remark, 
that  the  Americans  are  incessantly  called  upon  to 
exercise  their  rights,  as  legislators,  judges,  jurors, 
or  ministers  of  the  law. 

There  are  in  the  United  States,  in  all  the  large 
cities,  literary  societies,  destined  not  only  to  af- 
ford encouragement  to,  but  also  to  serve  as  the 
depositories  of  the  sciences  and  fine  arts.  Not- 
withstanding, the  greater  part  of  the  members  of 
these  associations  do  little,  or  absolutely  nothing 
for  them.  They  are  like  plants  that  languish 
from  being  neglected.  Want  of  leisure  is  again 
the  cause  of  their  being  so  little  useful;  for  al- 
though those  who  compose  them  are  enlighten- 
ed amateurs  of  letters,  they  are  almost  exclusive- 
ly either  rich  merchants,  lawyers  much  enga- 
ged in  their  professional  duties,  or  public  officers. 

These  voluntary  associations  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  fine  arts  are  in  a  state  of  extreme 


125 

weakness,  arising  from  the  want  of  encourage- 
ment, of  which,  they  at  this  moment  stand  in  need. 
There  is  scarcely  a  single  American  sculptor  of 
any  reputation.  The  Americans  are  not  de- 
ficient in  painters  and  especially  in  limners,  but 
unfortunately  the  state  of  things  in  that  country 
obliges  them  to  regard  painting  in  no  other  light 
than  as  a  lucrative  trade,  and  not  as  an  art  which 
has  conferred  great  fame  on  all  those  who  have 
cultivated  it  writh  success. 

Nor  is  architecture,  considered  as  a  branch  of 
the  fine  arts,  more  conspicuous  in  their  public 
edifices.  It  usually  wears  a  sorry  and  tasteless 
appearance.  Sometimes  you  see  a  light  wooden 
steeple  surmounting  a  very  heavy  brick  building; 
sometimes  a  portico  in  the  grecian  style,  also  of 
wood,  stuck  against  the  side  of  a  massive  build- 
ing. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  formerly  president  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  says  somewhere  in  his  Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia, that  the  genius  of  architecture  has  pro- 
nounced his  malediction  on  that  country.  This 
may  certainly  appear  extravagant  to  all  who 
have  seen  the  bank  of  Pennsylvania  id  Phila- 


126 

tielphia,  and  the  capitol  of  Richmond  in  Virgi- 
nia. 

The  fact  is,  that  their  public  edifices  univer- 
sally suffer  from  a  inistaken  economy.  The 
Americans,  however,  cannot  be  reproached  with 
avarice  as  a  trait  of  their  character,  for  they  of- 
tener  run  to  the  opposite  extreme.  But  it  is 
certain  that  they  have  manifested  great  parsimo- 
ny in  the  employment  of  their  public  funds;  and 
this  virtue,  (for  it  is  one  there,)  seems  to  be  a 
natural  consequence  of  their  democratical  insti- 
tutions. 

In  speaking  of  the  state  of  the  sciences  in  the 
United  States,  justice  requires  that  we  should  not 
lose  sight  of  the  principal  circumstance,  which 
seems  to  have  impeded  the  progress  of  indige- 
nous literature.  This  is  no  other  than  the  iden- 
tity of  their  language  with  that  of  England. 
At  the  period  of  their  national  independence, 
the  English  language  was  already  rich  in  mod- 
els of  every  kind.  Consequently,  it  would  have 
been  very  difficult  for  the  Americans  to  have 
opened  a  new  road  in  the  domain  of  literature. 
To  this  day,  the  same  identity  of  language,  does 
not  allow  them  to  create  a  national  literature: 


127 

and  thus,  all  the  efforts  of  genius  are.  in  some 
measure,  restricted  to  an  imitation  of  foreign 
models. 

The  Americans  are  generally  very  hospitable; 
and  notwithstanding  the  high  opinion  they  en- 
tertain of  themselves,  receive  strangers  with  ea- 
gerness and  cordiality,  without  examining  too 
scrupulously    the    letters  of    recommendation 
presented  to  them.     In  the  cities,  hospitality  is 
manifested  by  frequent  invitations  to  dinner  and 
evening  parties,  which  often  pave  the  way  for  a 
stranger,  to  a  much  more  permanent  acquain- 
tance.    But  where  you  pay  a  visit  to  Americans 
residing  on   their  estates  in  the  interior  of  the 
country,  the  hospitality,  which  they  extend  to 
you,  carries  with  it  an  air  of  frankness  and  benev- 
olence quite  patriarchal;  and  the  traveller  is  sure 
to   please   his  host,  by   behaving  towards  him 
with  unaffected  civility,  and  by  humouring  his 
eager  curiosity. 

Regarded  in  their  domestic  relations,  Hie  Amer- 
icans generally  appear  good  heads  of  families, 
attached  to  their  wives  and  children,  and  very 
much  devoted  to  their  society.  Hut  the  relation 
between  parent  and  child  seems  1<>  preserve  its 


128 

natural  strength  only  until  the  latter  has  attain- 
ed the  age  of  puberty.  This  observation  is  partic- 
ularly applicable  to  males.  They  usually  quit 
the  paternal  roof  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  for  the 
purpose  of  prosecuting  their  studies  in  some  col- 
lege, from  which  they  go  to  an  university,  to 
complete  them.  When  returned  from  it,  with 
or  without  an  academic^  degree,  the  young  men 
immediately  turn  their  attention  to  the  choice  of 
a  profession,  and  launch  into  the  world  to  make 
their  fortune,  often  with  means  furnished  by 
their  families,  and  oftener  with  nothing  more 
than  a  paternal  benediction  and  the  brilliant 
dreams  of  a  youthful  imagination. 

It  does  not  unfrequently  happen  that,  after 
this  first  separation,  the  parents  never  see  their 
children  again;  especially  when  the  latter  seek 
an  establishment  in  the  western  states,  or  aban- 
don themselves  to  the  dangers  of  a  maritime  life. 

Women  in  the  United  States  enjoy  a  reputa- 
tion for  morality,  which  the  most  violent  defam- 
ers  of  that  country  have  never  dared  assail. 
They  assiduously  fulfil  the  duties  of  wives  and 
mothers.  Their  deportment  is  modest,  decent 
and  very  reserved.    Petitions  for  divorce  are  not 


129 

rare,  but  they  are  most  generally  founded  on  in- 
compatibility of  temper,  and  are  very  seldom  on 
account  of  adultery. 

It  cannot,  however,  be  denied,  that  in  mari- 
time cities,  and  even  in  the  metropolis,  libertin- 
ism is  carried  to  a  great  length  by  the  young 
men.  But  the  care  that  is  taken  to  conceal  it 
under  the  veil  of  mystery,  bears  sufficient  testi- 
mony to  the  fact,  that  this  species  of  irregularity 
forms  a  contrast  to  the  morals  of  the  country. 
Within  a  few  years  only,  those  mercenary  dis- 
pensers of  debauchery,  who  swarm  in  the  large 
towns  of  Europe,  have  here  made  their  appear- 
ance in  places  of  public  resort;  and  the  time  is 
but  lately  past,  when  prostitutes  were  obliged  to 
hide  themselves  from  public  view,  and  dared 
not  expose  their  infamous  profession  in  the 
streets,  for  fear  of  being  hooted  at  and  grossly 
insulted.  But  it  must  be  confessed,  that  this 
horror  of  incontinence  has  already  undergone 
some  change,  and  the  aspect  of  the  cities  of 
America,  is  not  always,  in  this  particular,  very 
favorable  to  good  morals. 

The  beauty  of  the  women  of  the  United  States, 
is  generally  acknowledged.     But  it  is  of  so  frail 
17 


130 

and  transient  a  character,  that  a  sentiment  of 
compassion  immediately  mingles  itself  with  the 
pleasure  you  experience  in  beholding  the  young 
and  numerous  American  beauties,  who  assemble 
together  in  their  evening  entertainments.  You 
involuntarily  compare  them  to  delicate  flowers 
that  wither  before  the  slightest  breath  of  a  north- 
ern wind.  The  frequent  changes  in  the  tempe- 
rature of  the  air  which  distinguish  the  climate 
of  the  United  States,  exert  a  fatal  influence  on 
the  health  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  beauty  of 
the  women. 

The  Anglo-Americans  have  been  accused  of 
an  excessive  and  even  a  shocking  degree  of  nation- 
al vanity.  To  a  certain  extent,  this  reproach 
may  be  well  founded;  for  it  cannot  be  denied, 
that  they  are  not  very  sparing  in  the  praises 
they  bestow  upon  themselves  on  every  occasion. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  where  is  the  nation  with- 
out vanity?  Besides,  this  national  vanity  shows 
itself  so  often  in  the  United  States,  because  there 
are  there  more  numerous  opportunities  for  its  dis- 
play, than  in  any  other  country.  It  is  inherent 
in  the  nature  of  a  republican  government,  based 
on  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.    Who  does  not 


131 

know  that  of  all  sovereigns,  the  sovereign  people, 
is  most  avaricious  of  praise;  and  as  their  suffrages 
are  indispensible  to  the  election  either  of  a  su- 
preme magistrate,  an  inspector  of  a  market,  and 
even  of  an  officer  of  a  regiment  of  militia,  it 
follows,  that  the  ambition  of  the  one  and  avarice 
of  others,  singing  in  chorus,  the  praises  of  the  sov- 
reign  people,  have  finished  by  reducing  the  per- 
petual adulation  addressed  to  them,  in  the  speech- 
es of  their  orators,  and  the  columns  of  their  ga- 
zettes, to  the  simple  formula  which  declares,  that 
the  American  nation  is  the  most  enlightened 
and  virtuous  on  earth.  This  assertion  may  be 
even  found  in  the  annual  messages  of  the  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

The  vanity  of  which  we  speak  certainly  ex- 
ists in  an  equal  degree,  in  other  countries;  but 
it  is  differently  and  less  frequently  exhibited, 
because  elections  of  every  kind  and  political 
meetings  are  either  of  more  rare  occurrence  or 
have  no  existence  at  all. 

The  Americans  are  in  general  religious.  This 
assertion  is  more  applicable  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  northern  and  middle  states,  than  to  those  of 
the  other  parts  of  the  Union:  for.  il  is  notorious 


132 

that  in  the  southern  and  western  slates,  an  abso- 
lute indifference,  in  regard  to  religious  matters, 
is  quite  common.*     Sunday  and  other  great 
feasts,  which  are  very  rare  with  them,  are  strict- 
ly observed  by  the  Americans.    An  acquaint- 
ance with,  or  to  speak  more  correctly,  the  read- 
ing of  the  holy  scriptures,  is  very  general  in  the 
United  States,  even  among  the  labouring  classes. 
But  the  condition  of  the  clergy  is  far  from  en- 
viable.   They  are  subjected  to  the  influence  of 
republican  forms,  and  like  the  rest  of  the  citi- 
zens, compelled  to  go  through  the  ordeal  of  elec- 
tion.    In    the    greater  portion  of  the  United 
States  the  parochial  duties  of  the  churches  are 
performed  by  ecclesiastics,  whom  the  congrega- 
tion, at  whose  expense  the  church  has  been  built, 
choose  from  among  the  candidates  presented  to 
them.     They  receive  a  fixed  salary,  and  their 
perquisites  amount  to  very  little.    A  situation  so 
precarious  is  calculated,  neither  to  excite  emula- 
tion among  individuals  devoted  to  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal life,  nor  to  induce  young  scholars  to  study  the- 

*Nevertheless  persons  worthy  of  credit,  assure  me,  that  with- 
in some  years  past,  religious  sentiments  conformable  to  the 
christian  doctrine,  have  gained  ground  in  Virginia  and  in  other 
southern  state?. 


133 

ological  science  profoundly.  Hence  pulpit  ora- 
tory has  not  yet  shone  very  brightly  in  the  Uni- 
ted States.  Scarcely  can  we  name  any  Amer- 
ican divines  who  have  acquired  much  reputa- 
tion by  their  eloquence  or  writings;  and  the  few 
that  might  be  adduced,  are  to  be  found  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut,  where  the  spirit  of 
religion  most  prevails. 

The  same  spirit  of  investigation  and  control, 
which  presides  over  the  political  institutions  of 
the  United  States,  would  likewise  make  religious 
creeds  subordinate  to  human  reason.  Tolera- 
tion is  there  without  restriction.  Every  species 
of  worship  is  free,  and  none  provided  for  by  the 
state.  Thence  results  the  multiplication  of  sects 
to  such  a  degree,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
enumerate  them.  Having  no  cause  of  mutual 
jealousy,  they  live  in  peace  with  each  other,  or 
at  most,  wage  a  war  of  the  pen.  which  does  no1 
produce  the  least  sensation  in  the  public  mind. 

Contrary  to  the  exclusive  spirit  which  ani- 
mates their  European  brethren,  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  the  United  States  have  willingly  acced- 
ed to  this  system  of  absolute  toleration. 


134 

There  are  also  in  the  United  States,  commu- 
nities of  Jews,  although  inconsiderable  in  num- 
ber; and  it  will  without  doubt  appear  strange, 
that  the  Jews,  participating  in  all  the  rights  of 
American  citizens,  live  among  themselves  with- 
out the  least  intermixture  with  the  christians. 
Some  exceptions  might  be  cited,  but  they  are 
very  rare,  and  the  quotation  of  them  would  only 
prove  the  fact. 

Of  all  the  religious  denominations  compo- 
sing the  population  of  the  United  States,  the  so- 
ciety of  friends,  so  justly  celebrated  under  the 
title  of  Quakers,  is  most  distinguished  by  the  love 
of  order  and  charity  among  its  members.  To  the 
divine  principle  of  universal  benevolence,  which 
constitutes  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity  and 
which  they  put  into  practice,  is  owing  the  good 
state  of  prisons,  hospitals  and  schools;  and  indeed 
all  the  efforts  which  have  been  made  to  civilize 
the  Indians. 

The  Methodists,  another  very  numerous  sect, 
are  remarkable  by  their  zeal  for  the  propagation 
of  the  christian  faith  among  the  Indians  and 
negro  slaves.  But  the  sect  of  Unitarians,  or 
followers  of  Dr.  Priestly,  augments  most  rapidly 


135 

at  this  time.  This  phenomenon  is  curious,  and 
we  may  well  be  astonished  that  it  can  obtain  in 
a  country,  where  human  reason  is  so  jealous  of 
its  prerogatives.  For,  the  doctrine  of  the  Uni- 
tarians or  Anti-Trinitarians,  is  a  mixture  of  faith 
and  philosophical  skepticism  difficult  to  be  re- 
conciled. They  admit  the  Bible  as  the  founda- 
tion of  their  belief,  and  then  declare  that  it  is  un- 
intelligible to  human  reason  and  opposed  to  it. 
They  acknowledge  the  divine  mission  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  yet  deny  the  divinity  of  his  nature. 

It  is  proper  nevertheless  to  state,  that  this  sect 
counts  among  its  adherents,  a  great  number  of 
individuals,  wrho  do  honor  to  the  human  species 
by  their  exalted  virtues  and  the  good  example 
they  offer  to  their  fellow  citizens. 

The  writings  of  Thomas  Payne  having  had 
a  very  extensive  circulation  in  that  country, 
have  not  failed  to  disseminate  deism.  But  the 
deists,  although  they  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
the  laws,  have  not  yet  dared  to  organize  them- 
selves into  a  religious  community  or  to  open  a 
temple  of  worship. 

In  a  word,  what  is  the  present  state  of  society 
in  th<"  United  States?  A  civilized  population,  bni 


136 

spread  over  an  immense  and  still  new  territory. 
All  is  in  motion  and  rapidly  advances  towards  a 
better  order  of  things.  But  this  motion,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  very  great  disparity  between 
the  extent  of  territory,  and  the  population,  is 
rather  physical  than  moral.  Human  industry 
there  seems  absorbed  in  the  desire  of  wealth; 
and  they  do  not  think  as  yet  of  enjoying  their 
acquisitions. 

Those  who  seek  but  for  an  easy  and  tranquil 
existence,  without  being  dependant  on  any  man; 
those  whose  situation  would  induce  them  to 
withdraw  from  unmerited  oppression;  those,  in 
fine,  who  only  aspire  to  the  lucrative  employ- 
ment of  their  physical  force,  with  good  conduct 
and  sobriety,  may  easily  realize  all  their  hopes  in 
the  United  States. 

It  is,  above  all,  the  country  for  those  who  are 
unfortunate  and  yet  possess  means  of  subsistence, 
or  for  men  without  fortune  but  laborious  and 
temperate.  Much  time  must  yet  elapse  before 
this  country  becomes  the  sanctuary  of  the  sci- 
ences, the  fine  arts  and  those  intellectual  enjoy- 
ments which  form  the  charm  of  society. 


137 

Foreigners  who  have  made  a  long  stay  in  the 
United  States  remark,  that  Europeans  who  vis- 
ited them,  either  through  curiosity  or  belonging 
to  some  public  mission,  rarely  become  attached 
to  the  country,  but  are  for  the  greater  part  im- 
patient to  leave  it.  Is  this  the  fault  of  the  Amer- 
icans or  of  the  strangers?  It  is  probable  that 
both  are  to  blame.  If,  as  they  have  been  ac- 
cused, the  Americans  are  conceited  and  selfish, 
on  examining  the  matter  more  closely,  we  shall 
perhaps  find,  that  the  Europeans  on  their  part, 
exact  too  much. 

In  terminating  this  sketch,  we  admonish  the 
reader  not  to  expect  to  find  a  portrait  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  resembling  the  original  in  all  its  de- 
tails. Such  a  task  would  require  considerable 
time  for  the  collection  of  materials,  as  well  as 
that  philosophical  quickness  of  perception,  be- 
stowed by  nature  on  her  favorites  alone.  The 
author  is  satisfied  with  uniting  in  this  compo- 
sition, the  characteristic  traits  of  a  country  in- 
teresting in  many  respects,  and  little  known  to 
Europe.  He  is  not  sure  of  having  been  always 
accurate,  but  he  has  endeavoured  to  be  impar- 
tial: and  hopes  that  the  Americans  will  not  re- 
proach him  with  voluntary  error. 
18 


APPENDIX. 


-^a^ 


NOTE  A    PAGE  9. 


This  charter  was  granted  by  Charles  the  se- 
cond, in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  reign,  and  it 
remains  unchanged,  except  the  alterations  ne- 
cessary to  make  the  judicial  processes  and  the 
oaths  of  office  and  allegiance  conformable  to  the 
principles  of  the  revolution.  ,  The  constitution  of 
Rhode  Island  is  one  of  those,  in  which,  as  the 
author  observes,  the  democratic  ingredient  seems 
most  to  prevail,  and  is  a  striking  illustration  of 
his  remarks,  that  our  contest  with  England  was 
more  for  political  freedom  than  civil  rights.  It 
was  for  both,  indeed;  for  a  surrender  of  the 
former,  would  have  endangered  the  latter. 

NOTE  B.  PAGE  14. 

At  the  time  of  the  compilation  of  his  work, 
Mr.  Seybert  was  a  member  of  congress  from 
Pennsylvania,  and  fully  availed  himself  of  the 
ample  means  in  his  power  of  rendering  it  au- 
thentic and  complete 


140 


NOTE  C.  PAGE  35. 


The  existence  of  slavery  among  us,  is  to  be  at- 
tributed to  the  British  government,  and  not  to 
us.  The  colonies,  which  now  compose  this  na- 
tion, remonstrated  against  its  introduction;  but 
it  was  insisted  on  in  Europe,  because  it  was  be- 
lieved that  the  mother  country  would  profit  by 
the  labours  of  the  blacks. 

By  their  great  increase,  and  large  infusion  in- 
to the  mass  of  society  in  some  of  the  states  of 
this  confederacy,  our  situation  has  become  full 
of  difficulty  and  peril.  Every  man  among  us 
that  reflects,  is  alive  to  the  importance  and  deli- 
cacy of  the  subject.  The  injurious  tendency  of 
slavery,  so  visible  in  the  South, — its  inhumani- 
ty,— its  contradiction  of  our  acknowledged  prin- 
ciples and  boasted  institutions, — the  danger  of 
oppressing  a  mass  of  human  creatures,  becoming 
every  day  more  enlightened  and  consequently 
more  powerful,  restless  and  resentful, — are  better 
understood  and  more  properly  felt  in  this,  than 
they  can  be  in  any  other  country. 

A  thousand  schemes  have  been  devised  of 
amelioration  and  relief.  But  the  great  diversity 
of  opinion  has  been  injurious,  as  it  always  is,  to 
the  successful  prosecution  of  any.  Many  of  the 
projects,  inadequate  perhaps  to  their  object, 
were  twharted  by  the  opposition  of  liberal  and 
philanthrophic  persons;  and  others,  more  feasi- 
ble, by  the  selfish,  timid,  narrow  minded  and  jeal- 
ous.   Public  opinion  is  manifestly  in  favour  of 


141 

the  adoption  of  some  plan;  and  certainly  an  im- 
perfect one,  is  better  than  none  at  all. 

The  idea  of  manumission,  however  gradual,  is 
justly  rejected.  Free  blacks  are  a  greater  nuis- 
ance than  even  slaves  themselves.  As  long  as 
they  remain,  they  should  be  held  in  bondage;  for 
they  can  never  amalgamate  with  us,  nor  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  privileges  of  citizens,  but  must  be 
for  ever  a  subordinate  and  degraded  cast.  Such 
a  mockery  of  freedom  would  be  worse  than  sla- 
very: it  would  not  more  contribute  to  their  hap- 
piness, and  yet  endanger  ours. 

Brilliant  hopes  were,  for  a  short  ti  me,  inspired 
by  an  invitation  to  our  free  blacks  from  the  gov- 
ernment of  Hayti:  but  they  have  been  utterly 
disappointed.  The  reservoir  itself  would  have 
been  too  small  to  contain  them  all,  even  if  it 
had  not  been  prematurely  closed,  by  the  prejudi- 
ces of  the  Haytiens  and  the  caprice  and  arbitra- 
ry character  of  their  rulers.  A  great  number  of 
the  North  American  blacks,  who  took  refuge 
there,  have  returned  toourshores.  They  found 
a  foreign  language,  a  disordered  and  ignorant  so- 
ciety, intolerant  notions  of  religion,  and  a  despo- 
tic government. 

It  is  now  generally  admitted,  that  if  we  wish 
to  remove  our  coloured  population,  we  must  pro- 
vide them  with  a  home  and  country,  where  they 
may  speak  their  native  tongue,  enjoy  under 
our  protection  the  republican  institutions  they 
have  learnt  from  us  to  appreciate,  and  be  a  homo 
geniOUS  nation. 


142 

Some  ol'  their  zealous  and  even  enlightened  ad- 
vocates, have  recommended,  that  they  should  be 
conveyed  (as  rapidly  as  they  may  be  emancipa- 
ted in  the  natural  course  of  things,)  to  the  north 
west  coast  of  America,  and  there  established  as 
an  independent  people.  This  project,  which  does 
not  effectually  separate  them  from  us,  and  is  the 
most  laborious  and  expensive,  has  nothing  to  re- 
commend it  but  the  sincerity  and  zeal  in  which 
it  was  conceived,  and  which  were  determined  to 
manifest  themselves  in  so  holy  a  cause,  by  form- 
ing some  design  for  its  promotion. 

The  only  plausible  scheme  that  has  yet  been 
devised,  is  the  removal  of  the  blacks  to  Africa. 
It  is  supported  by  a  vast  majority  of  those  who 
have  turned  their  attention  to  the  subject,  and 
has  met  the  approbation  of  some  of  our  wisest 
and  most  distinguished  statesmen.  A  territory 
has  already  been  there  provided,  for  their  recep- 
tion, by  the  American  colonization  society;  and 
the  colony,  though  unfortunate  in  its  infancy, 
like  all  settlements  in  new  and  unknown  coun- 
tries, has  since  enjoyed  a  more  prosperous  exist- 
ence than  any  of  the  early  and  similar  estab- 
lishments on  the  coast  of  America.  This  terri- 
tory, called  the  Montserado,  was  purchased  from 
the  native  tribes  in  December  of  1821,  and  iias 
since  been  furnished  with  inhabitants,  occasion- 
ally and  at  irregular  periods,  at  the  expense  of 
the  society.  The  population  now  amounts  to 
about  four  hundred. — If  the  means  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  society  were  greater,  emigration 


143 

would  be  regular  and  rapid;  for  the  blacks  man- 
ifest a  decided  preference  and  strong  inclination 
for  that  course.  When  the  society  of  Friends,  of 
North  Carolina,  came  to  a  determination  recent- 
ly of  manumitting  all  their  slaves,  and  gave  them 
the  choice  of  the  place  to  which  they  would  be 
conveyed,  at  least  two  thirds  selected  Africa. 
Most  of  the  others  preferred  Hayti;  and  a  few, 
the  non-slaveholding  states  of  the  west.  But 
little,  however,  can  be  effected  by  a  revenue  of 
only  ten  thousand  dollars,  derived  from  the  vol- 
untary fluctuating  and  uncertain  contributions 
of  charitable  individuals  and  societies.  Nothing, 
indeed,  can  be  done  by  means  so  slender,  but  to 
lay  the  foundation  of  a  colony,  and  from  the 
practicability  of  the  scheme. 

This  has  been  amply  done;  and  the  projec- 
tors and  promoters  of  the  work  look  for  its  com- 
pletion to  the  general  government  or  the  states. 
The  former  may  be  deterred,  by  the  morbid- 
ness on  this  subject  of  the  southern  members  of 
the  union,  from  lending  its  assistance  further 
than  hitherto:  that  is,  than  maintaining  a  vessel 
of  war  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  for  the  suppression 
of  the  slave-trade,  and  fostering  the  village  it 
has  established  for  the  reception  of  recaptured 
Afrieans.  But  it  is  highly  probable,  that  many 
of  the  latter  will  give  it  their  effectual  support. 

It  is  a  scheme  of  the  most  national  and  philan- 
thropic character.  Itcomprises  every  kind  of  char- 
ity, the  most  permanent  and  enlarged.  The  ad- 
vantages to  us  are  obvious;  to  humanity,  not  less 


144 

so;  to  the  blacks,  equally;  to  Africa,  immense. 
We  rid  ourselves  of  a  deadly  and  growing  evil 
and  foul  reproach,  and  open  a  wider  field  for  the 
increase  and  industry  of  our  fellow-citizens.  We 
provide  a  home  for  the  colored  man,  where  he 
may  enjoy  the  happiness  and  freedom  that  Pro- 
vidence has  granted  us.  We  plant  the  banners 
of  civilization  and  the  gospel  on  the  shore  of  Afri- 
ca; whence  they  may  effect  their  mild  and  grad- 
ual conquest  of  the  entire  continent,  and  com- 
pensate it  for  the  miseries  heretofore  inflicted. 

Whether  the  colored  population  of  the  whole 
United  States  can  be  removed,  by  any  plan  what- 
soever, we  shall  not  decide.  We  are  not  san- 
guine enough  to  expect  or  hope  it.  In  the  south- 
ern states  they  are,  from  the  nature  of  the  soil 
and  climate,  infinitely  more  valuable  than  else- 
where, more  numerous,  more  closely  interwov- 
en into  the  texture  of  society,  and  more  difficult 
therefore  to  remove  by  gradual  and  natural  caus- 
es. The  people  of  those  states  seem  to  cling  to 
slavery  as  the  pillar  of  their  wealth  and  indepen- 
dence; and  it  is  too  much  to  be  feared,  that  if  any 
measures,  however  moderate  and  proper,  relative 
to  that  subject,  be  brought  before  the  national 
legislature,  they  will  offer  an  opposition  propor- 
tioned to  what  they  suppose  to  be  their  interest 
in  the  question. 

But,  fortunately,  the  condition  of  the  middle, 
western  and  more  northern  states  is  very  differ- 
ent. In  Virginia,  Maryland,  Tennessee,  Ken- 
tucky, Missouri,  and  perhaps  North  Carolina, 


145 

where  the  climate  is  more  salubrious,  the  slaves 
less  numerous  and  more  enlightened,  the  white 
population  more  vigorous  and  pressing  upon  the 
blacks,  ready  to  fill  the  vacuum  to  be  created  by 
their  removal — where  the  interests  of  society  are 
not  blended  with  that  baneful  institution,  but  pre- 
judice is  against  it — there,  we  may  hope  with- 
out being  accused  of  too  much  enthusiasm,  that 
the  scheme  of  gradual  emancipation  and  remo- 
val, and  transportation  to  the  coast  of  Africa,  or 
elsewhere,  will  have  its  full  and  happiest  effect. 
It  must  necessarily  be  slow  at  first.  But  every 
successive  wave  of  emigration  will  deepen  the 
channel.  Such  was  the  case,  in  the  peopling  of  this 
continent.  A  fewr  straggling  vessels,  a  few  tim- 
id adventurers,  laid  the  foundations  of  this  na- 
tion, after  repeated  and  fruitless  attempts,  and 
opened  the  reservoir  into  which,  for  centuries, 
have  been  pouring  the  oppressed  and  enterpriz- 
ing  inhabitants  of  Europe.  Such  will  be  the 
case  with  Africa.  Emigration  will  not  be  sup- 
plied, as  from  Europe  hither,  from  all  the  or- 
ders of  society,  draining  off  a  surplus  that  was 
not  missed:  but  will  be  confined  to  a  single  class 
and  colour,  whose  situation  and  affinity  must  im- 
pel them  to  go.  It  will  not  be  checked,  as  it 
was  in  Europe,  by  statutes  and  penalties;  but  en- 
couraged by  the  laws,  promoted  by  the  nature 
of  things,  and  accelerated  by  the  elastic  pressure 
of  a  different  and  better  species  of  population. 
It  is  not  too  bold  to  assert,  that  at  this  moment, 
thousands  of  slaves  are  held  in  bondage,  hi  those 


1 10 

states,  merely  from  the  impolicy  of  manumis- 
sion; and  that  an  outlet  is  eagerly  sought, 
through  which  they  may  be  poured.  That 
they  themselves  are  willing  to  go,  is  proved  by 
the  fact,  that  in  less  than  a  year,  and  notwith- 
standing the  predictions  of  the  wise,  six  thou- 
sand voluntarily  embarked  for  Hayti.  If  their 
expedition  had  been  successful,  and  they  had 
not  been  so  cruelly  disappointed,  thousands  would 
have  followed  them,  and  a  continual  stream  been 
kept  up,  until  the  island  was  full  or  this  country 
exhausted.  It  is  in  the  very  nature  of  things, 
that  people  situated  as  they  are,  should  ardently 
embrace  a  scheme  so  calculated  for  their  welfare. 

NOTE  D.  PAGE  37. 

The  constitution  itself  provides  for  the  admis- 
sion of  new  states  into  the  confederacy,  in  the 
following  words:  "New  states  may  be  admitted 
by  congress  into  this  union." 

Under  this  authority,  congress  direct  the  time 
and  manner  of  such  admissions.  But  the  con- 
ciseness of  the  phrase  in  which  the  power  is  con- 
ferred, and  the  use  of  the  word  "may,"  which 
implies  or  seems  to  imply  an  unlimited  discretion, 
have  occasioned  a  great  variety  of  opinion  on  the 
extent  to  which  the  power  may  be  exercised. 

Some  persons  contend  that  congress  have  not 
the  right  of  refusing  admittance  to  a  territory,  af- 
ter it  has  attained  a  certain  population.  How- 
ever, it  evidently  rests  with  congress  to  determine 


147 

what  that  population  shall  he.  And  yet  it  would 
certainly  be  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  institu- 
tions, to  hold  a  territory  for  ever  in  vassallage,  or 
debar  it,  even  for  a  short  time  after  it  has  grown 
to  a  suitable  importance,  from  those  rights  and 
privileges,  for  which  we  ourselves  so  obstinate- 
ly struggled. 

It  has  also  been  a  matter  of  much  dispute, 
whether  Congress  may  impose  upon  a  territo- 
ry applying  for  admission,  any  condition  that 
they  please.  This  objection  almost  resolves  it- 
self into  the  former.  The  prevailing  sentiment, 
(formed  during  the  discussion  of  the  Missouri 
question.)  seems  to  be,  that  Congress  do  possess 
the  right;  although  it  may  be  sometimes  high- 
ly inexpedient  to  enforce  it.  The  only  limit 
to  their  power  would  appear  to  us  to  be,  that 
the  condition  should  be  compatible  with  the  re- 
publican form  of  government.  The  time  may 
come,  when  that  power  of  rejection  will  be  a 
protecting  bulwark,  to  repress  the  exorbitant  ex- 
tension of  our  territory  and  shield  us  from  in- 
trusion. 

i 

V  >TE  5.  PAGE  44. 

The  Post-office  may  almost  be  said  to  have 
become  a  separate  department  It  has  grown 
to  be  one  of  the  most  important  ramifications  of 
our  interna]  policy:  extending  over  the  whole 
face  of  the  country,  carrying  information  not 


148 

only  of  domestic  but   of   foreign  events  to  the 
door  of  every  citizen,  and  bringing  the  remotest 
regions  to    be  neighbouring  districts.     It   may 
well  be  said  to  be  the  band,  that  is  wound  around 
the  fasces  of  our  Union;  for  without  it,  a  repub- 
lican government  could  not  be  wielded   over 
such  an  extent  of  surface  and  variety  of  affairs. 
If  we  enumerate  the  post-masters,  clerks,  con- 
tractors, drivers,  and  all  the   other  persons  ne- 
cessary to  such  an  establishment,  we  shall  find 
perhaps  that  there  are  more  under  the  immedi- 
ate and  indirect  control  of  the  Post  Master  Gen- 
eral, than  under  any  other  branch  of  the  gov- 
ernment: and  we  may  then  form  some  idea  of 
the  power  and  importance  of  the  station.     In- 
deed, the  only  respect  in  which  the  Post  Mas- 
ter General  can  be  said  to  be  subordinate  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  is,  that  he  renders 
through  him   to  Congress,  a  quarterly  account 
of  the  expenditures  and  profits  of  the  establish- 
ment.    These  seemed  to  come  properly  within 
the  province  of  the  financial  department.    But 
in  every  thing  else,  Congress  communicate  with 
the  Post  Master  General   directly,  and  as  with 
the  chief  of  a  separate  department;  as  may  be 
observed  in  the  laws  establishing  new  post-offi- 
ce   or  post  roads,  and  building  bridges,  &c.  for 
the  convenient  transportation  and  safety  of  the 
mail. 


149 


NOTE  6.  PAGE  46. 


The  learned  author  has  expressed  himself 
vaguely,  in  saying  that  the  President  is  "con- 
jointly with  the  Senate,  commander  in  chief." 
He  is,  alone,  commander  in  chief  of  the  army 
and  navy.  He  appoints  all  officers  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate;  but  he 
may  di^mi^s  them  at  pleasure  from  the  service. 
This,  how  ever,  is  seldom  or  never  done,  without 
the  intervention  of  a  court-martial.  As  it  is  a 
power  which  appears  to  subserve  no  useful  pur- 
pose, and  may  be  converted  by  daring  and  ambi- 
tious men  to  the  perpetration  of  the  wrorst  de- 
signs, it  is  highly  probable  that  the  bill  now 
before  congress,  for  suppressing  it,  will  become 
a  part  of  the  constitution. 

NOTE  7,  PAGE  54. 

The  attempts  which  several  times  were  made 
to  abolish  the  military  academy,  have  entirely 
failed;  and  that  institution,  so  admirably  suited 
to  our  wants  and  our  form  of  government,  has 
become  one  of  the  favourites  of  the  nation.  It 
has  also  essentially  improved,  both  in  a  literary 
point  of  view  and  in  its  internal  organization. — 
The  slight  disturbances  which  once  took  place 
at  Wot  Point,  and  which  the  distinguished  au- 
thor views  in  so  serious  a  li^lit,  were  entirely 
accidental,  and  are   not   likely  to  occur  again: 


150 

and  the  useful  operation  of  that  school,  in  fur- 
nishing not  only  our  regular  army,  but  our  mili- 
tia too,  with  accomplished  officers,  has  woven  it 
permanently  into  our  political  institutions.  In- 
deed, it  is  rather  a  part  of  the  militia,  than  of 
the  regular  army;  of  the  civil,  than  the  military 
organization  of  the  country.  In  the  inception 
of  a  great  system  of  internal  improvements,  we 
have  already  derived  essential  service,  from  the 
labours  of  gentlemen  educated  at  the  academy. 

As  civil  and  topographical  engineers,  they  are 
now  exploring  every  part  of  our  vast  country, 
that  the  smallness  of  their  number  will  permit 
them  to  reach;  and  it  is  difficult  to  tell,  whence 
we  could  derive  a  sufficient  body  of  scientific 
engineers,  as  the  work  progresses,  but  from  the 
bosom  of  such  an  institution.  Their  education 
and  pursuits  enable  them,  certainly,  to  provide 
at  once  for  the  commercial  intercourse  and  mil- 
itary defence  of  the  nation,  better  than  persons 
solely  devoted  to  cither  enquiry. 

The  number  of  cadets  is  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty-one;  and  they  are  from  the  different 
states,  nearly  in  proportion  to  their  respective 
representation  in  congress.  From  Maine,  there 
are  seven;  from  New-Hampshire,  seven;  Mas- 
sachusetts, fifteen;  Rhode-Island,  two;  Connec- 
ticut, six; Vermont,  nine;  New-York,  thirty-five; 
New-Jersey,  seven;  Pennsylvania,  twenty-nine; 
Delaware,  two;  Maryland,  ten;  Virginia,  twen- 
tv-four;  North  Carolina,  thirteen:  South  Caro- 


151 

lina,  twelve;  Georgia,  eight;  Kentucky,  four- 
teen; Tennessee,  eleven;  Ohio,  twelve;  Louis- 
iana, four;  Indiana,  five;  Missouri,  four;  Alaba- 
ma, five;  Mississippi,  two:  Illinois,  two;  Michi- 
gan, two;  Florida,  two;  District  of  Columbia, 
two. 


NOTE  8.  PAGE  56. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  that  our  na- 
vy has  been  considerably  strengthened  since  that 
period,  not  only  by  the  addition  of  several  ships  of 
the  largest  class,  and  many  frigates  and  sloops 
of  war,  but  also  by  the  improvement  of  our  na- 
val stations,  the  increased  facility  of  obtaining 
materials,  in  consequence  of  internal  improve- 
ments the  fortification  of  our  harbours  and  rivers, 
and,  above  all.  the  growing  public  sentiment  in 
its  favour. 


NOTE  9.  PAGE  58 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  many  of  our  naval 
officers  are  better  acquainted  with  the  practical 
than  the  scientific  part  of  their  profession.  This 
deficiency  has  been  remedied,  in  some  degree, 
by  the  stricter  examination  now  required  for 
promotion,  and  it  will  be  entirely  removed  by 
a  well  conducted  naval  academy.  The  gallant- 
ry of  our  officers  has  heretofore  blinded  us  to  any 
imperfections;  but  the  nation  is  now  convince'! 


152 

thai  something  is  wanting,  and  seem  determin- 
ed to  supply  it. 

NOTE  10.  PAGE  (55. 

To  this  vagueness  of  the  constitution,  we  owe 
some  of  the  greatest  and  most  wholesome  pow- 
ers of  the  general  government.  For  instance, 
the  right  of  establishing  a  national  bank,  of 
founding  naval  and  military  colleges,  of  making 
roads  and  canals,  is  an  implied  or  constructive 
power.  It  is  a  vagueness  indispensible  in  a 
form  of  government  like  ours;  to  clothe  the  re- 
presentatives of  the  people  with  authority  neces- 
sary to  their  usefulness,  and  adapt  our  institutions 
to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  country. 
The  danger  of  its  admitting  of  too  unlimited  an 
interpretation,  is  obviated  by  the  jealous  watch- 
fulness of  the  state  governments,  and  the  juris- 
diction of  the  supreme  court. 

The  time  no  doubt  will  come,  when  all  the 
disputed  points  of  the  constitution  will  have 
been  deckled.  Its  framers  will  then  be  applaud- 
ed for  their  wisdom,  in  not  making  it  immuta- 
ble, and  binding  it  tightly  around  the  body  politic, 
so  as  to  impede  and  cramp  its  motions,  but  leav- 
ing it  an  easy  flowing  garment,  that  might  adorn 
and  adapt  itself  to  every  size  and  posture. 

In  a  government  like  ours,  a  confederacy  of 
active,  enlightened  and  independent  states,  with 
conflicting  views,  and  sometimes  interests,  it  is 
easier  to  put  a  proper  restraint  on  vague  and  un- 


153 

defined  powers,  than  to  give  them  an  energy, 
however  useful  and  necessary,  beyond  the  ex- 
press provisions  of  the  instrument  that  confers 
them. 


NOTE  11.  PAGE  75. 

We  are  not  aware  that,  in  any  state,  the  mur- 
der of  a  slave  is  not  punishable  by  death.  His 
testimony  is,  of  course,  and  properly,  rejected; 
for  it  is  utterly  impossible,  from  the  influence 
exerted  over  him  and  his  condition,  that  he 
should  be  an  impartial  and  credible  witness. 

It  must,  however,  be  acknowledged,  that  some 
juries,  (from  prejudice,  we  presume,)  but  too 
reluctantly  avenge  the  injuries  of  that  unfortu- 
nate race. 


NOTE  12.  PAGE  16. 

The  greatest  difference  between  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  in  this  country  and  in  England, 
consists  in  the  political  jurisdiction  of  the  su- 
preme court.  That  august  tribunal  is,  perhaps, 
peculiar  in  that  respect. 

NOTE  13.  PAGE  81. 

By  a  "local  court  of  original  jurisdiction,"  the 
acute  and  distinguished  author  means,  we  pre- 
sume, the  district  court;  from   which  appeals 

20 


154 


are  had  to  the  circuit  court.  He  is  in  error, 
however,  in  calling  it  a  "local  court,"  as  it  is  one 
of  the  courts  of  the  United  Sates.  A  "local 
court,"  as  we  should  understand  it,  would  signi- 
fy a  state  court. 


NOTE  11.  PAGE  1U2. 

Nothing  can  be  added  to  the  concise  but  lu- 
minous views  here  taken,  of  the  penitentiary 
system  of  the  United  States.    The  causes  to 
which  he  justly  attributes,  the  failure  of  many 
specious  and   alluring  schemes  of  philanthropy 
in  the  organization  of  prisons,  have  begun  to  be 
understood  and  obviated.    "The  want  of  a  pro- 
per classification  of  culprits,"  will  be  remedied 
by  separation  and  solitary  confinement.    "The 
luxury  of  charity,  with  which  prisoners  are  pro- 
vided for,"  will  be  corrected  by  experience  of 
its  bad  effects.    And  the  "abuse  of  the  pardon- 
ing power,"  will  be  restrained  by  the  good  sense 
of  executive  officers,  or  by  an  all-powerful  pub- 
lic opinion. 

Solitary  confinement  of  those  who  have  com- 
mitted the  more  heinous  offences,  and  classifica- 
tion of  the  rest,  according  to  their  ages,  sexes 
and  the  nature  and  degree  of  their  guilt,  may 
still  be  rendered  compatible  with  industry, 
economy  and  gentleness  within  the  prison  walls. 
The  experiment  cannot  be  said  to  have  been 
yet  fully  tried;  and  the  failures  and  obstacles 


155 

heretofore  encountered,  must  be  attributed  not 
so  much  to  the  system  itself,  as  to  the  extreme 
difficulty  of  its  practical  application.  That  dif- 
ficulty will  soon  be  almost  entirely  removed,  by 
the  two  penitentiaries  now  erecting  in  Penn- 
sylvania, on  the  new  plan;  and  the  system  will 
then  receive  a  fair  and  final  trial.  If  it  should 
still  prove  defective,  (though  reason  seems  to 
recommend  it,  as  well  as  benevolence,)  atten- 
tion will  be  turned  to  some  other  scheme;  and 
certainly  the  enlightened  and  enquiring  spirit 
that  pervades  the  country  on  that  subject,  must 
ultimately  lead  to  the  discovery  and  adoption  of 
the  best. 


NOTE  E.  PAGE  116. 

Although  estates  tail  are  not  positively  pro- 
hibited by  law,  yet  they  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
exist,  for  they  can  be  destroyed  by  a  simple  con- 
veyance in  fee.  In  England,  they  resort  for  the 
same  purpose  to  intricate  and  antiquated  forms; 
such  as  fine  and  common  recovery. 

NOTE  F.  PAGE  117 

The  system  of  public  schools  may  be  justly 
considered,  as  a  necessary  part  of  our  republi- 
can institutions;  for  where  the  people  are  self- 
governed,  they  should  be  enlightened. 

This  idea  prevails  pretty  generally  throughout 


156 

the  United  States,  and  is  daily,  by  experience, 
becoming  stronger.  In  those  states,  in  which 
no  system  of  public  schools  has  been  yet  adopted 
and  no  funds  appropriated  to  the  object,  a  wise- 
erand  more  liberal  spirit  is  beginning  to  reign. 
In  Maryland,  or  at  least  in  the  city  of  Baltimore, 
we  are  about  adopting  a  plan  worthy  of  our 
prosperity  and  resources. 

In  some  of  the  states,  very  large  funds  are  set 
apart  for  public  education.  New  England  is 
particularly  distinguished  in  that  respect.  The  an- 
nual expenditure  for  that  object  in  Boston  alone, 
is  seventy  thousand  dollars;  and  the  advantages 
and  beauty  of  the  system  are  there  most  strong- 
ly exemplified.  The  school  fund  in  Connecti- 
cut, amounts  to  two  million,  seven  hundred  and 
sixty-four  thousand,  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  dollars,  and  yields  an  annual  revenue  of 
one  hundred  and  five  thousand,  eight  hundred 
and  sixty-two  dollars. 

Pennsylvania  also  adopted,  in  1819,  the  New 
England  system  of  public  schools.  The  estab- 
lishment, though  yet  in  its  infancy,  promises, 
from  the  wealth  and  populousness  of  that  state, 
to  be  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  complete. — 
Up  to  1824,  ten  thousand,  eight  hundred  and 
nine  children  had  been  admitted  into  the  pub- 
lic schools,  and  in  that  year  nearly  three  thou- 
sand more  were  added. 

Virginia,  too,  has  devoted  several  millions  of 
dollars  to  the  institution  of  schools  and  a  univer> 


157 

sity.  Perhaps,  in  the  present  state  of  literature 
there,  she  might  have  better  omitted  the  latter, 
which  has  formidable  rivals  and  substitutes  in 
other  places,  and  applied  the  immense  sums  it 
cost  to  a  more  complete  extention  of  primary 
schools,  whose  absense  cannot  be  supplied.  The 
rich,  who  are  those  that  most  commonly  pur- 
sue the  higher  branches  of  education,  can  go 
abroad  to  obtain  them;  but  the  poor  citizen  is 
confined  to  the  spot,  and  if  he  finds  not  the 
means  of  education  there,  he  finds  them  not  at 
all. 

New  York,  the  leader  in  the  great  work  of 
internal  improvement,  has  not  been  more  back- 
ward in  the  cause   of  general  education.     She 
appropriated  five  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land 
to  the  purpose;  of  which    three  hundred  and 
ninety-six  thousand,   nine  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  had  been  sold   in  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixteen.      She    has,  besides,    devoted    an    an- 
nual income  of  sixty-four  thousand,  and  fifty- 
three  dollars.    In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty 
four,  there  were  seven  thousand,  six  hundred 
and  forty-two  school  districts  in  the  state:  three 
hundred  and  eleven  of  which  were  established 
during  that  year:  and  the  number  of  children 
taught,  for  the  average   of  nine  months,  was 
four  hundred  and  two  thousand,  nine  hundred 
and  forty.     The  general   school-fund  amounts 
to  one  million,  seven  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  the  local  school  fund  to  thirty- 
seven  thousand.      The   sum    paid  to  teachers. 


158 

out  of  the  public  funds,  was  one  hundred 
and  eighty-two  thousand,  seven  hundred  and 
forty-one  dollars. 

Besides  these  schools  provided  at  the  public  ex- 
pense, there  are  many  others  maintained  by 
charitable  individuals.  Such,  for  instance,  are 
the  schools  of  the  Free-school  society,  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  at  which  thirty  thousand 
white,  and  one  thousand  seven  hundred  coloured 
children  are  taught.  And  in  addition  to  the 
funds  applicable  to  the  common  schools,  the 
sums  of  money  and  other  appropriations  given, 
by  the  state,  to  the  several  academies  and  colle- 
ges, are  immense. 


159 


NOTE  17.  PAGE  119. 


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oured Population  at  the  same  jttriod,  with  the  increase  and  ratios  of  increase. 


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NOTE  18.  PAGE  120. 


If  the  differences,  which  the  observant  author 
notices,  really  exist,  they  are  in  a  rapid  progress 
of  obliteration.  In  our  earlier  days,  when  large 
fortunes  were  confined  principally  to  the  south- 
ern states,  and  wealth  produced  among  the  plant- 
ers that  hospitality  and  elegance  for  which  they 
are  still  remarkable,  the  people  of  the  north 
were  simple  and  industrious  farmers  or  mer- 
chants. But  successful  commerce  has  made 
the  latter  rich,  and  given  them  a  taste  for  the 
pleasures  of  refined  society;  and  while  they  equal 
their  fellow  citizens  of  the  south  in  hospitality 
and  elegance,  they  surpass  them  in  splendour 
and  munificence. 

The  cultivation  of  the  arts  and  sciences  has 
also  been  carried  further  in  the  north  than  in 
the  south.  In  a  literary  point,  of  view,  tkere  is 
no  comparison. 

Whatever  may  be  the  moral  effect  of  slavery, 
it  is  most  conspicuous,  not  upon  the  upper  class- 
es, but  upon  the  lower;  giving  them  feelings  of 
pride  and  habits  of  indolence,  that  destroy  their 
respectability  and  usefulness.  That  valuable 
order  of  society  called  the  yeomanry,  cannot  ex- 
ist by  the  side  of  slavery.  Between  that  bane- 
ful institution  and  the  wealthy  and  proud  pro- 
prietor, there  lies  a  desart.  If  such  a  state  of 
things  is  favourable  to  republican  virtue  and 
happiness;  then  are  the  unwholesome  swamps 


161 

and  dismal  pine  barrens  of  Georgia,  more  beau- 
itful  and  pleasant  than  the  green  hills  and  val- 
lies  of  Pennsylvania. 

NOTE  19.  PAGE  21. 

In  turning  over  our  author's  pages,  we  find 
that  he  says  in  page  21,  that  none  of  our  moun- 
tains exceed  twelve  hundred  feet  in  height.  They 
certainly  bear  no  proportion  to  our  mighty  rivers 
and  lakes,  and  the  vast  extent  of  our  territory; 
but  they  are  nevertheless  considerably  higher 
than  he  seems  to  have  been  aware  of.  Mount 
Washington,  the  loftiest  of  the  White  Mountains, 
in  New-Hampshire,  is  six  thousand  six  hundred 
and  thirty- four  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  highest  of  the  Green  Mountains,  in  Vermont, 
is  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine. 
The  Table  Mountain,  in  South  Carolina,  four 
thousand.  The  Peakes  of  Otter,  on  the  Blue 
Ridge  in  Virginia,  three  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  fifty-five.  The  top  of  the  Catskills,  in  New 
York,  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  four. 
The  highest  peake  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in 
Missouri,  supposed  to  be  a  spur  or  continuation 
of  the  Andes,  is  twelve  thousand  five  hundred 
feet  above  the  surface  of  the  sea;  and  James' 
Peake,  on  the  same  range,  twelve  thousand. 


11 


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